Ragtag Heroes
by NepgyaHeart
Summary: Being rewritten. Please don't read this version.
1. His Hero

A Torchic found himself cowering in fear against a large, cold boulder. A Pinsir and a Heracross were towering over him, giving him no room to escape. A Pawniard and a Cranidos were standing a few yards behind the three.

"What'chu doin', ese? We just wanna talk, mang," the Pinsir said with a thick accent, hovering a hand dangerously close to the Torchic's beak.

"Yeah, bro, we just wanna see that cool necklace of yours. Dude, I've _never_ noticed that you wore that thing before. You should have told us, dude. Share the load, right, man?" the Heracross asked, pointing to a string hung around the Torchic's neck with a gray rock attached to it. "Bro!"

"B-b-but," the Torchic stuttered. He gulped and kept looking left and right for any room to squeeze past the two bug-types in front of him. _I should have never left home today_ , he thought. "Y-you know that I w-wear this. You guys-s see me every day, ha ha."

"Really? And what does that mean, homes?" the Pinsir asked, his face barely six inches away from the Torchic's. His teeth were even more menacing up close, and his curling smirk did him no favor. "That means we're friends, then, ese."

"Yeah, yeah!" cheered on the Cranidos in the background. "What he said!"

"Chewie, DJ, are you done making idiots of yourselves?" the Pawniard asked coolly with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, what he said! Ha ha!" the Cranidos exclaimed, laughing at the top of his lungs at nothing.

"You, too, Liam. Shut up. You're giving me a migraine."

"Yes, sir, Blake, sir!" Liam shouted, saluting with a stubby arm.

 _Great, they're unintentionally distracted by Blake again! I'll thank him… one of these days_ , the Torchic thought. He pressed himself against the boulder and inched ever so slowly to the right, where there was a gap since the Heracross threw his arms up into the air.

"But, bro! Blake, come on, man! You're _never_ on my side, brah," the Heracross exclaimed. "You buggin'."

"Because you're a bone-headed idiot that keeps following me around, DJ," Blake said. "That, and it's nice to see you make a fool out of yourself every day."

"Yeah, what he said!" Liam shouted; it was unclear as to who he was supporting. He started cackling like no tomorrow with this, again for no exact reason.

 _Home free_ , the Torchic thought as he managed to distance himself from the quartet. He started dashing off with his eyes closed, chirping in glee. But, a stop was put to this quickly in the form of an unseen pebble, hidden in the grass. The Torchic ran his foot straight into it, talon almost bending by the force he collided with it at, which was surprisingly little. "Ahh! Owie!" he shouted, then started to hop on one foot.

"Where joo goin, mang? We still here!" Chewie shouted, walking over to the hopping orange bird.

"Please, stop. It hurts," the Torchic cried, tears threatening to spill from his dark purple eyes.

"Nah, man, where's the fun in that?" DJ came over and flicked the Torchic on the forehead, prompting the chicken to cry out in pain even more. "Jeez, Chuckie, you're such a baby, dude. Yo, you be overreacting."

"My name's not Ch-Chuckie!" the Torchic said through sobs.

"Whatever, Charley, stop crying, mang. People gonna hear, joo know?" Chewie asked, tapping the Torchic on his head with each word.

"Owie, please leave me alone today, guys!" the Torchic pleaded. Blake and Liam were just watching from afar.

"Just hold still, little man, this won't hurt any more than it has too, bro," DJ said. He proceeded to palm the Torchic's head, lifting him a couple feet off the ground, scrawny legs dangling, tears splatting on the ground.

"Okay, Chet, we just gonna look at the pretty rock joo got there, homes," Chewie said. He put both his arms around the Torchic, then pinched the string around his neck. He tried lifting it above his head, but had trouble doing so. "Oy, Chelsea, your head so big, mang. Joo should be smarter, eh?"

The Torchic only whimpered and kicked his feet in the air. Chewie then pulled the necklace down, over the chicken's wings and around his talons. "Please, stop."

"Bruh, you serious? All this for a stupid rock? You wastin' my time?" DJ barked, bringing the Torchic closer to his face with each word.

"I told you, you're idiots," Blake said, but didn't leave.

"Yeah, wh-" Liam started to shout, but was cut off by Blake whacking him on the head.

"Just hold on, ese. DJ, come on, let's have some fun," Chewie said, punching a palm to get his point across.

"Hell yeah!" DJ shouted, shaking the Torchic as he cheered.

"Come on, Pollo, stop crying, mang!" Chewie said. "What are you, a baby?"

"Hah, Pollo? More like, like… Polio, am I right?!" DJ shouted. "'Cause, like…" He didn't stop talking, but the Torchic started zoning him out.

"I'm amazed you know what that means," Blake shouted to DJ.

"No," the Torchic whispered, eyes shut tightly. _Please, stop. You let me go all the other times. It hurts. My talon, my head, my face, owie! Mommy, Dad, I'm not strong like you. Someone, anyone, please save me!_ he thought, screaming on the inside.

And, like an angel descending from a beam of light aimed at Earth, a savior answered his call. Or something to that effect. Perhaps it was more like a Snorlax defending its food supply in terms of grace.

Without warning, DJ got a clump of mud slung at the back of his head. "Bro, who did that?" he shouted. Then, he received a hard bonk on the head, an empty, hollow noise resulting from the contact. "Hey!"

Then, he got another hit, this time on the hand, causing him to let go of the avian in his grip. Swiftly, the hand of the unknown assailant took its turn palming the Torchic by the head; in contrast to DJ's grip, this one was far more gentle. The Pokemon holding him jumped backwards, away from the two bug bullies. They shook him and whispered harshly, "Hey, you alright?"

He slowly opened his right eye, only to find a pair of large black eyes staring back at him. His captor had a red nose and a red patch of hair on top, and was sweating profusely. "Well?"

The Torchic slowly processed what was happening. He recognized the Pokemon to be a Vigoroth, and the voice to be female, albeit gruff and deep. He stuttered before finally spitting out an answer. "F-fine."

"Good," she said, slowly lowering him until his feet touched the ground. She then turned around to face the two bullies, who were visibly seething at her. She started cracking her knuckles and rolling her shoulders, preparing for a fight. "So, what do you jerks gotta say for yourselves?"

She walked towards them and away from the chicken. "Thank you," he breathed after her, sliding down to sit on his bum, foot still aching from the pebble.

"Who are you, homes?!" Chewie shouted.

"You're gonna pay for getting mud on me, and hitting me, dude!" DJ yelled. He looked like he was about to say something else, but another mass of mud was flung at him; this time, his face was the target. She hit him dead-center, but didn't stop there. She shared the love and tossed another clump at Chewie, whose mouth was open. He fell to his knees, spitting and coughing to get it out, overreacting if you asked the Vigoroth. He dropped the necklace in his hands, which rolled over to Blake's feet.

"Whoa! I wish I could do that," the Torchic whispered to himself.

Then, she lunged forwards and kicked Chewie at the side of the head, carefully avoiding his spiney horns. He went face down, and she proceeded to stomp on him repeatedly, a rather unorthodox way of approaching things given her gamut of moves. "Stop it, mang," he shouted into the ground, voice cracking. She then stopped, and still standing on him, proceeded to use Fury Swipes.

"Yeah, do it!" the Torchic cheered on in the background.

DJ was not to be forgotten. He came up behind the Vigoroth and charged up an attack, his horn glowing white. "Hang in there, Chewie, bro. I got'chu."

In an instant, the sloth snapped backwards and bared her teeth. She jumped at DJ before he could launch his attack, pinning him to the ground, then proceeded to scream in his face like a savage, using Uproar. "You lose!" she screamed with confidence and gusto, following up with an Ice Punch to his face.

 _Scary_ , the Torchic thought. _I wish I was that strong_.

"Yo, like, not fair!" DJ shouted, trying to protect his head. "And cold!"

"Then try this!" she shouted, landing a clean hit with Fire Punch. He stopped talking, his eyes closed, mumbling incoherent words. She started pounding on her chest, standing on DJ. "I hate bullies!" she loudly proclaimed.

Her eyes locked onto Chewie, who started sweating. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, chica, we can talk this out, yeah?" he said smoothly.

The Vigoroth was not amused, and jumped off of DJ at Chewie, charging up a hand. Once she was close enough, she unleashed a Slash. It hit him square on the empty noggin, a critical hit, and Chewie fell down in one swing. _What pussies; how weak are they?! I'm not even that strong_ , she thought. "Who's next?!"

Her eyes shot to Blake, who stood there holding the necklace that was the ultimate cause of the rumble. She took large, long strides towards him, arms posing as a second set of legs. Liam snuck past her to DJ and Chewie, trying to shake them awake.

"Take it," Blake said coolly, holding the necklace out. The Vigoroth nabbed it and glared him down. "Sorry," he said sarcastically. He shut up once the sloth gave him another look, and turned to take his leave.

Liam was successful in waking the two bugs awake. In an instant, they shot up, and despite the pain they were feeling, started celebrating.

"Yo, bro, you see this?!" DJ shouted, pointing to to a couple large, swollen bumps on his face with one hand and a char mark with the other with a large smile.

"Joo see me?!" Chewie yelled, touching his entire upper body, which was covered in dark bruises that would probably take over a week to disappear. He had a stupid smile on as well.

"Yo, we'll get mad girls lookin' like this! Chicks _dig_ bros with injuries," DJ said like it was a fact.

"What kind of guys are you?!" the Torchic yelled from afar. _Are they okay? Did she hit them too hard?_ he wondered, then stopped his train of thought. _Oh, wait, they're always like this._

"Yo!" they both shouted, jumping up and down like giddy schoolgirls, holding hands. Then, they started headbutting each other despite their wounds. "Ow, ow," they said each time they collided, but didn't stop.

"Hey, watch it mang! You're horn is pokin' my eyes again!" Chewie yelled, but continued to headbutt his pal.

"So? _Your_ horns be pokin' me!" DJ shouted back. And, with his friend, they kept at their dumb display of apparent "masculinity".

"Let's go," Blake said, walking past them, grabbing each one with an arm, dragging them away from the scene.

Liam scuttled after them, but not before turning around and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Don't you dare forget us! Once you mess with us, you'll regret it! Remember our name: Team Lame Sauce!"

Blake let go of DJ and Chewie, who were still headbutting, by the way, to stand over Liam. Despite being well shorter than him, Blake towered over Liam, who was hunched over in order to scream out, wearing a menacing glare. The Cranidos stared up at his senior with confusion. "What's up, boss?"

Blake delivered a harsh Night Slash to the top of Liam's head. The latter male reached up to hold his cranium in pain. "For the _last_ time, dumbass, it's Team _Chaos_! I picked it 'cause it sounds cool, and you're just making it a joke!"

"Okay, sorry, boss!" Liam shouted. Blake dragged the Cranidos behind him, then grabbed the two bugs, still clashing, and started walking off into the distance. "Don't forget the name: Team We Lost!" Blake delivered another Night Slash to Liam.

The Vigoroth took a deep breath, then fell onto the grass on her back. "There's no way that they're an actual team. Whew, I'm tired. They were _not_ worth it. No, wait!"

She shot up and looked to the Torchic who had yet to move from his spot during the whole scuffle. He shyly kicked his feet up into the air while looking at the grass. She walked over to him and presented the necklace with both hands. "This is what you wanted, right?" she asked softly, starkly contrasting with her battle form.

He nodded vigorously and stood up slowly. "Yes, I, uh, thank you!" He took a bow, but looked back up when he felt a string around his neck. His pendant was right where it belonged. "Thank you, really!"

"Not at all! I like helping people," she said, taking a seat on the ground to the right of him. The Torchic sat back down and started kicking his feet again.

"Umm," he said, trying to come up with small talk. _She just saved me from them. I have the rest of the day to myself, without worrying about them coming and bullying me!_ he thought.

"I'm Vita," she said out of nowhere.

"What?" He didn't quite catch it.

"Name's Vita. You?" She stared up at the sky, which happened to be bright blue and cloudless.

"O-oh," he said, blushing slightly. _I should have guessed that much._ "I-I'm Chance."

"Chance? Pretty cool name," Vita said.

"More like ironic," Chance said under his breath. "So's Vita," he said more loudly.

"Really? Nah, I mean, it's just a name." She looked at him and smiled widely. He couldn't help but smile back.

"That thing must be really important to you for jerks like them to be like that."

"Yeah, it's really important to me. It was a gift from my dad."

"Nice." She didn't pry any further.

"Um, are you… from around here?" Chance asked. _I don't want this to become uncomfortable silence_. He knew the Pokemon around town well enough, and he had never seen a Vigoroth around before.

"Nope. I'm from somewhere else, that's not well-known or populated enough to be on the map." She stretched her arms and closed her eyes for a second. "That's why I came to Treasure Town."

"What do you mean?" Chance asked, tilting his head to the side.

"My home's boring. I came here to join an exploration team and Wigglytuff's Guild."

"Wait, isn't that that funny-looking tent over that way?" Chance recalled passing by that weird building several times when he went out to Spinda's Cafe for a nice cup of apple juice. "What are those?"

"You don't know?!" She stood up and started at Chance. "You don't know what an exploration team is?!"

He shook his head no and suddenly felt his heart racing. _Please tell me she's not going to hurt me_ , he thought, cringing at the image of him being in DJ's and Chewie's shoes. _I can't handle it!_ "Asking me it again isn't going to make me know any more!"

"An exploration team is the best thing ever!" she exclaimed, jumping with her arms thrown up into the air.

"Th-that's not telling me much, you know?" he whispered.

"Huh? You gotta speak up if you wanna hold a conversation with me, man!" she shouted, still hopping.

"I still don't know what it is!" Chance shouted this time, taking all the breath out of him. He fell back and lied down, breathing heavily.

"You don't have that much endurance, huh?" Vita asked.

"No," he whispered reluctantly and with attitude, bitter. He shot back into an upright position.

"Well, an exploration team is… well… it's what it sounds like! It's a group of Pokemon that, like, work together, go on adventures, and strive for a common goal!" Vita was really hyped right now, thrashing the ground below and swinging her arms all about. "They go to dungeons, do quests, catch outlaws, and more! It's awesome!"

"You really like that," he said, feeling slightly uncomfortable by how lively she was. "I _guess_ it is."

She stopped in her tracks and pointed straight at Chance. "Yeah? Well, I _know_ it is!" She started fidgeting again, unable to contain her inherent unbridled energy.

"So, you want to be one? An explorer?" Chance asked, smiling at the little dance that Vita was doing.

"Oh, yeah, you bet I do!"

 _I wish I knew what I wanted to do. She's everything I'm not, huh? Well, she'll leave me alone in a while and be an explorer or whatever, while I'll stay stuck here like this_ , he thought, lamenting his position in life.

"You're a mopey little guy, aren't you?" Vita asked, pointing at his face.

"What? N-no," he said shakily. _Change the subject, fast!_ "Um… Oh! Wait, you called it an exploration _team_!"

"Yeah? That's what it is!" she shouted.

"Um…" Chance wasn't sure if he should break it to her, fearing her strength and rage. _Please don't take this the wrong way!_ "A team is more than one person."

"What?!" she shouted and stopped moving. Chance's system locked up, too shocked by her volume. "Oh, you're right."

"Ow, my back!" Chance was about to stand up, but fell back down immediately when he heard her say this. _Way to wave it off! How can you be so easygoing?_ he thought. "Ouchie. Well, that's one way of looking at it," he said, planting his bum straight on the ground.

"Now aren't you a fragile little fellow? What _wouldn't_ hurt you?" she asked, plucking him up by the head and placing him on his feet.

"Thanks," he said, looking at his feet. He glanced back up at the Vigoroth and saw a glimmer in her eye. "Why _do_ you want to be an explorer?"

"What? You serious?" Vita gave him a pet on the head. He started laughing uncomfortably.

"Y'know, you don't have to treat me like this. I'm pretty sure we're the same age, or around it," he said, trying to wiggle out of her grasp.

"Yeah, but you're small and cute and fluffy!" she exclaimed, starting to jump again.

"Heh, heh, riiight," he said. _What have I gotten myself into? Who exactly is she?_

Vita calmed down and looked him straight in the eye. And with all seriousness and certainty, she said, "To have fun."

Chance visible recoiled at this. "Fun?" he repeated. _What is that supposed to mean?_

"Yeah, fun," she said. Looking at the Torchic in front of her, she noticed that he was deep in thought, eyes narrowed and steam almost being emitted from his noggin. She smiled and put a hand on his head again. "I mean, what's the point in living if you don't have fun?"

Chance just froze. He had never given that a thought in his entire lifetime. _Living… fun… What about me?_ he thought. "I… I don't know."

"Then you just have to keep going to find out," she said, winking. "I don't know about you, but that's the reason I exist. I just wanna have some plain, good ol' fun, y'know? And that's the explorer's life for me. I've been planning this out since I was a kid. Bein' an explorer is my dream!"

"That's really cool!" Chance said. He really meant it, but couldn't help but grimace at the same time. "I… I still don't know what in want from life."

"You can be such a downer, Chance," she said. She started drumming her knees. "Be a little more optimistic. I just saved you. I could be charging you up the wazoo, y'know? You're lucky I like you."

"O-oh! Right! I'm sorry, but how can I really thank you?" Chance asked.

"Think nothin' of it. Like I said, I like helping anyone who deserves it. And back to talking about teams…" she said, calming down and looking rather depressed for a moment. "Well, I just… I never met anyone who wanted to be on a team with me. Either they didn't want to be an explorer, or they just ran away when I went up to them. I don't know why the second thing happened."

Chance looked away her and shuddered discreetly. _I can only imagine. Her neutral face can be kinda, really intimidating. And when she was fired up back there? But, still… she's really nice._ "Well, I guess it's not for everyone, right?"

"I'd like to think that, but even when I went up to an pair of newbie explorers on a team that was visiting my hometown, they just told me to not talk to them. I don't know why. I thought that they were pretty cool. Oh, an exploration team can have up to four Pokemon at a time, by the way."

"That's kinda mean. They should have let you join them. You're really kind, and strong, too!" Chance said. Vita blushed at this.

"Ha, well, it doesn't really bother me, anyway. I'm fine with it just bein' me; I'm a party of one!" She stood up and started punching the air. "But, it wouldn't hurt to have a partner, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know the feeling. I can say the same thing about me and friends around here," Chance said. "But, my parents are plenty!" he quickly added, giving a small smile.

"I can imagine," she said. _If only_ , she thought.

"I wish I could be brave like you," he mumbled under his breath. But, Vita heard him clearly.

She then shot a look around the Torchic beside her, smiling. "But, I don't think I have to worry about that junk anymore. And neither do you!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, a little worried about the tone in her voice. _Is she planning something?_ "Why are to looking at me like that?"

"Hold tight, Gobbles."

"'Gob-bles'?"

Then, before he even realized it, Vita had grabbed him by the head and started running towards town at mach speed. He screamed in shock and terror, his feet dangling in the wind as he shut his eyes tightly. He pecked blindly downwards until the rock of his necklace was in his beak, biting it with all his might.

"Which way's the guild?!" she shouted over her shoulder, not bothering to stop running.

"Are you kidding me?!" Chance shouted back, still biting onto his rock.

"No," she simply stated.

 _She's not going to stop, is she?_ "It's straight along the main path!" he shouted, letting the rock fall out of his mouth. "And can you _please_ grab me by my head instead of my hair?! You're gonna pull it off!"

"Whoops, my bad," she said. Chance could barely hear her over the sound of his own whimpering and heartbeat. Her grasp had slid from his very round head to his narrow, more grip-able hair when she was running. She moved to hold him in front of her and readjusted her grip on him.

"Thank you," he said calmly once the tugging of his hair stopped. "Wahh!" Vita had let her arm fall down and backwards again, once more having Chance trail her.

"Where now?" she asked.

"Left at the hole with the stairs in it!"

And on cue, said hole came into view. A sign reading "Spinda's Cafe" in print too small for Vita to catch was standing by it. She took a sharp left, almost smacking Chance into the sign as she passed by it, and didn't even slow down.

"Can you please put me down?!" Chance shouted.

"Don't be a buzzkill!" she shouted back. She came to a full stop before a large wooden grate on the ground. On either side of it were two huge torches. Beyond the grate was a big, pink tent in the shape of a pink bunny. "We're here," she said, then started panting in exhaustion. She softly placed Chance down beside her.

"How can you run like that?" Chance asked, hunched over and almost kissing the ground in gratitude for existing. "Please don't pick me up like that again."

"Wigglytuff's Guild."

"Yeah, I gave you directions here."

"We're goin' in!"

"Wait, what?!" Chance asked. He slowly backed up until he ended up against a large rock.

"We're joining the Expedition Society! It's a win-win," she said, walking towards him.

"Wait, don't I get a say?! This is _your_ dream, not mine!"

"Why can't it be _both_ of ours'?" she asked.

"You're not making a good argument for yourself, you know?"

"Okay, okay, just listen here," she said. She placed a hand on his head and offered a thumbs up with the other. "This is the answer that we've both been looking for."

" _I_ don't want this!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is. I heard you. You said that you wanted to be brave. Like me. This is it."

"I didn't mean it like that. I just… I don't know," Chance said, avoiding eye contact with Vita, which was hard given that she kept trying to shove her face into his, waiting for an answer.

"Then that's all the more reason to join."

"But… I'm no hero," he said, drawing circles in the sand with a claw. "Besides, I just met you! Even if I really appreciate what you did for me, that doesn't mean that I'll follow you around like this. Or the other way around."

"I get it. I guess I _do_ come off too strongly, huh?" she asked, backing up and giving Chance some room to breathe. He stayed quiet, didn't look up, and drew a fancy rose with his talon on the soft ground. Vita pointed at it and said, "That's really good. But, you know, you never know if you don't try."

Chance listened carefully to every word she said, hanging onto them and not letting go. "Try…" he trailed off, deep in thought.

 _But… I'm scared to get hurt._

"But, I won't force you, okay? I'm sorry I dragged you here, since you didn't want me to," she said, scratching the back of her head. "I hope we can at least be friends, Gobbles."

He looked up and stared her in the eyes. "Friends," he said dreamily before realizing what she just said. "M-my name is Chance, you know?"

"Mmm, sure it is; I heard you the first time, but I'll call you Gobbles. I like giving people nicknames. Do you like it?" she asked, oblivious to Chance's initial confusion and discomfort to it. "I think it fits you."

"Does it, now?" he asked. _I've never had a nickname before. But "Gobbles"? Of all things? I can tell, she's really proud of herself for this name, though_ , he thought, taking note of Vita's large and toothy smile. _Well, I don't really mind it_ that _much._

"You got it!" she shouted. "Let's hang out sometime, yeah? I'm gonna go meet with the guild master right now, so wish me luck!"

She turned around and started to walk towards the tent. Chance perked up and his mind started racing. He tried to shout to her, but his throat felt so dry. _She's gonna go. My first friend, and I can't even tell her "bye"?! What if she forgets me, or makes a whatever team and doesn't want to hang out with me after today?!_ He couldn't stop overthinking things.

"Hey, Gobbles," Vita yelled, standing several yards away from Chance, having yet to cross the large grate. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at her. She gave another smile and shouted, "You know, life starts when you stop being scared and decide to have fun."

She about-faced and started walking again, but was stopped shortly after. "Wait, stop!" Chance shouted.

It kept echoing in his head. "What's the point in living if you don't have fun?" _I don't know. But, I do know that I haven't had fun in a long time. No one ever wants to hang out with me_ , he thought. "You never know if you don't try." _But… Well, she's not wrong. I want something new to happen. But how?_ "Life starts when you stop being scared and decide to have fun." _Hmm… Then… I don't want to be scared anymore! I want to live, even if it hurts! And, if I can have fun with a friend, then that's even better! I know what I want!_

Chance had never felt so spontaneous in his life before that moment. _I don't care. No regrets! She makes a good case!_ "Take me with you!" He started running, then hopped towards Vita. She was caught off guard, and just barely made it in time to catch him. He kept lunging forwards, crying and repeating, "Take me with you!"

Vita held him in an awkward hug, letting him stand on one of her hands and lean into her shoulder. _Okaaaay… didn't expect this to happen_ , she thought. She pat his head and looked over to the guild, smiling. "You sure, Chance?"

He shot up, shaking his head up and down so hard he started to feel dizzy. "Let's become an exploration team!" he shouted, puffing his chest up. "Let's have fun!"

Vita couldn't help but laugh. "That's the spirit! Be more confident like that!"

"Ooh, yeah, I feel good!" he shouted, doing a small hop. "Never mind. I actually feel a little light-headed."

"Alright, let's go, Gobbles," she said, staring down into the depths of the hole beneath the grate. The pit seemed infinite; no matter what angle Vita approached it from, darkness was all that she could see.

"Hey, Vita?" he said slowly. "Can you… only call me that when it's the two of us? And, not in public? It's kinda embarrassing."

"Really? Oh, alright, fine, have it your way, _Chance_ ," she said, winking.

"Th-thank you," he said. "I won't regret this, right?"

"Nah, you won't. I can promise you that. And if you do, well, I won't hold it against you."

"We'll still be friends?"

"That's kinda a weird question, but yeah, of course. I'll save your butt any day, man."

Chance started chirping and hopping in glee. "Yay!" he kept saying. He then felt daring; he decided to jump from Vita's hand back onto the ground. He kicked himself into the air, fluttered his wings several times, then let gravity take its course.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Chance immediately tensed his body in pain. _Why did I do that?!_ he screamed internally. In a second, Chance was lying on the ground, quivering in pain, feet twitching over and over again. "Owww! Ow, ow, ow! Damn it!"

"Whoa, calm down, Chance! It wasn't that tall a drop! It was, like, two and a half feet!" She kneeled beside the Torchic and held her hands right above him, scared of hurting him accidently with just a touch.

"I knooow!" he cried, voice wavering, tears falling down and quickly evaporating due to his intense body heat. "It huuurts!"

"Are you overreacting, or does it really hurt _that_ badly?!"

"Th-the second ooone!" he whined.

 _What? This makes no sense! How could it hurt that much? He landed on his feet, too, and he doesn't even weight that much!_ she thought. She slowly placed her hands around him and started cradling him. "Shh, it's okay… I hope."

"What was that last part?" he asked, starting to collect himself.

"Nothin', ya big crybaby," she teased, giving him the absolutely lightest playful punch she could. She ended up just brushing a knuckle against the side of his head, too scared of hurting him further. "You feel better?"

"K-kinda." He puffed his cheeks out and pouted. "Please don't talk about this again."

"Uh… Well, I would agree, but only if you told me why that hurt you so much!"

"Please don't make me tell," he whispered. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Vita really couldn't fight that. How could she? She wasn't going to threaten him, especially since he still seemed to be in pain from the fall. _I just don't have the heart to force him. He's too nice_ , she thought.

"I'm sorry," he said. Vita was at a loss as to what he's was talking about. "I'm not strong. I don't think I can battle, especially not like you."

"Don't worry about it, Chance. It won't matter that much. Here, how about you be the brains and I be the brawn?" she asked, flexing her muscles. She seemed more bulky than DJ and Chewie put together.

"But, but don't explorers need to battle?" he asked.

"Yeah, most of the time. But, you can hold the map and cower behind me as I beat everybody up!"

"That, that doesn't make me feel better. I'm not even that smart. And, I don't even have hands!"

"It's fiiiine!" she said, winking and offering an a-okay sign with her hand. "It'll work out. Let's just focus on having fun, 'kay?"

Chance couldn't help but feel better. The pain temporarily subsided as it was replaced with hope. "Yeah!"

"You good to keep going?" She held Chance by the head again to steady him.

"Mm-hm!" he chirped. He did a little dance, kicking his feet into the air to reinforce his point. "Raring to go!"

They walked over the grate and paused when they heard someone yelling. A rather high-pitched and squeaky voice called out, "Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"

"Ahh! What's happening?!" Chance exclaimed.

"Relax. I've heard about this. Just wait; we'll be let in in a minute. Unless you have a rap sheet that you've been hiding from me, Chance," Vita said wryly.

"I don't!"

A new voice rang out, this one deep and booming. "Whose footprint?! Whose footprint?!"

"The footprints are Vigoroth and Torchic's! The footprints are Vigoroth and Torchic's!" the squeaky voice shouted.

"I hear ya! Come on in, visitors!" the loud voice called. "You got it again, Terra!"

A gate that was blocking the opening of the tent suddenly shot down, disappearing into the ground. Vita put a hand on Chance's back and pushed him forwards. They took one step before they had to stop. Chance made a bad move, stepping on an iffy looking bar. It creaked, then snapped in an instant. "Whoa!"

"What the?" Vita asked, noticing how unsafe the grate looked. The wood was borderline sewage-green, black specks all over that she hoped was rot and not something else. Large cracks ran along several bars like fissures spreading down earth from a quake.

Chance quickly took another step, saving himself from falling down the pit. But, the next bar he landed on did not have enough friction to stop him from slipping on it. His legs fell on either side of the beam, doing the splits in a supremely painful position. "Owie!" He tensed his legs and hugged the beam with all his might.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Vita asked, feeling the wooden frame shaking under her.

"Uh oh, Puff was right! You two, get off of there, now!" shouted the booming voice. "Terra, might wanna move!"

The next thing they knew, the grate gave way. After a large _crack_ , it detached itself from its stone bearings and fell. Then followed Chance and Vita. "Whoa!" they both shouted out.

"Man, Tenor's gonna freak!" the squeaky voice said. He popped out of the ground at the surface, a little brown mole with with a pink nose: a Diglett.

"It's his fault for being so cheap, anyway," said the booming voice. He emerged from the tent, an apple in hand. He was purple, with two round antennae-like ears, and a large mouth, a Loudred.

"Yeah, he convinced Puff to not replace it two weeks ago! He's gonna get it," the Diglett said. "Think they're okay, Rory?"

"You go check, Terra," Rory said, biting into the apple.

"Why don't you go?"

"Let's rock-papers-scissors it, then."

"No fair! I don't have hands!"

"Exactly."

"Fine," Terra groaned, disappearing into the ground.

At the bottom of the pit, Vita landed first, a few scratches and bruises on her body, face flushed to the ground. She was holding Chance up in the air by the head, who looked relatively unharmed. "You okay?" she asked into the earth, slowly lowering him to the space beside her.

"I think. My legs and butt still hurt from up there, though," he answered. "I'm gonna have back problems if you keep holding me by my head, though. Might even change the shape of my skull."

"Really are delicate, aren't you?" She asked, getting up slowly. "Damn, _my_ back hurts."

"Thanks for catching me," he said.

"No problem, partner," she said, shaking it off.

Terra popped up next to them, looking rather nonchalant. "So, uh, you guys alright?"

"No! We're not!" Chance shouted. He hopped over to Terra and gave the best menacing glare he could, which ended up looking pretty cute. "What was that?! Vita got really hurt!"

"Nah, I'm fine, Chance. Don't worry about me." She stretched her back and moaned in both pain and pleasure. "But, yeah, ouch. What was that just now?"

"Uh, s-s-sorry, ma'am. We were gonna have the grate replaced… tomorrow! But I'm so sorry that you two fell through it!" he shouted, intimidated by Vita's annoyed face.

She switched to a smile in an instant. "It's fine. We can forget this ever happened if you bring us to Guildmaster Wigglytuff."

"U-uh, w-well," Terra stuttered.

"Right this way!" Rory boomed, having just entered the pit. "Just don't blame this on us, okay?"

"You got it!" Vita said with a huge smile, pearly white teeth shining even brighter in the limited light from above in contrast to the rather dark pit.

The Loudred started marching out, followed by the Vigoroth, Torchic, and Diglett. "Name's Rory. Guy over there's Terra," he said.

"I'm Vita, and he's Chance," she said, getting introductions over with quickly.

They arrived at rather bustling hub inside the guild after climbing up a sturdy green vine. To their immediate left, Vita stated in wonder at a stall with a stone Croagunk overhead, and a noxious cauldron with bubbling purple liquid in it. A Croagunk stood before the pot, cheeks expanding and deflating at a slow, constant rate. Behind them was a mess hall, where a spilling pile of apples was peeking out from around the corner. Straight ahead was a long hallway; peering at it from an angle, Vita could make out small hay piles that seemed to pose as mattresses. And to the left a few steps ahead was where Rory was leading them.

"Here we are: Puff's office," Rory said, putting a hand on the divide of the dual doors. He was about to push it in when he was interrupted by a shrill, piercing voice.

"For the last time, Rory, you are to address him as _Guildmaster Wigglytuff_ ," said a Chatot that walked up beside them.

'Hey, Tenor," Rory groaned. He rolled his eyes and stepped away from the door. "He lets everyone to call him that, man."

"Let's mind our manners. Any-hoo, who are these two newcomers? The request boards are upstairs." Tenor pecked under his wings.

"Two new recruits," Terra said.

"Are we, now? I haven't been informed about this," Tenor said.

"Well, they kinda came… crashing in here," Rory said, scratching the back of his head. He quickly added, "Oh, and the sentry grate broke."

"What?!" Tenor shrieked, flapping his wings wildly. "That was what that crash was?! What have you done?!"

"C-calm down, Tenor! It was really unstable, anyway," Terra said.

Vita and Chance had no idea what to do besides sit back and watch the parrot in front of them freak out like a spaz. He was pretty funny, but neither dared to laugh. This Chatot, Tenor, seemed ready to pop a blood vessel at any moment.

"Umm… Can we go in?" Vita asked, becoming more impatient by the second. "This is really important to us."

"Nooo! No one is going anywhere until we sort this out! Who is to blame here?! Who?!" Tenor shouted, becoming red in the face.

"You kinda are, actually," Rory mumbled. This caused Tenor to freak out even harder.

"Whaaaat?!"

"Let's just calm down," Chance said, but was drowned out by the sound of the beating of Tenor's wings. Then, a loud _clunk_ came, followed by ominous creaking. Everybody was too focused on the agitated Chatot that they did not notice it. A large stream of light filed in and lit up everybody's faces and backs, with the exception of Tenor. A silhouette blocked the light for him, which was large and round. Vita and Chance, who were facing Tenor and could see behind him, dropped their jaws at the menacing shadow on the bird. Then, all was silent as a new voice called out.

"YOOM… TAH!"

* * *

Author's note: And that's the end of Chapter One! I really must ask: can anyone recommend a _really_ good _PMD_ fic to me? I haven't read a long fanfiction in a _long_ time, and I'm not sure how to look for one. I'm kinda iffy about how I should write dungeons, so I would like to know what people expect out of it.

Next! Question! Did Chewie seem familiar to anyone? I based him off of a video game character (or three) and felt like he was an entertaining enough guy. If you can guess who I based him off of, respect goes out to you.

On another note, I think this turned out pretty good. I had something like this on my mind for a few days, and I just started writing this up since I kept getting dry spells when I tried writing the next chapter for my other story. This is kind of an experiment.

This will _not_ be a novelization of any _PMD_ game. I'm trying to be completely original with this (which I pretty much failed at already since I'm using _Explorers of Sky_ assets, and since Chewie was based off some other character, huh?). But, I just adored Wigglytuff, Wigglytuff's Guild, and Treasure Town too much to leave alone. I mean, if I did build up my own version of a guild, it'll probably just end up as a reskin of Wigglytuff's anyway. Also, I do not remember too much about the events of it. I know the gist of it, but I spent over 150 hours on it, and I can't bring myself to delete it all just to play it through once, rushing, just to write a novelization and forget my original play file, as much as I love it.

Well, that's it for now. I don't know when this will update next, but it will probably be after I next update my other story. I've yet to decide a schedule.


	2. Endeavor, and ever, and Ever

"YOOM… TAH!"

Tenor flinched, flapping his wings even more. Terra and Rory took this chance to leave. Tenor said, "Ah! Oh, Guildmaster Wigglytuff, hello! There seems to be an issue here."

Chance tapped Vita on the side. She bent down to match their heights the best she could. He asked, "Is this _really_ the guy this whole place follows?"

She nodded. "Yup! Isn't he amazing? He's a legendary explorer, too!"

Chance looked away and chuckled wryly. _Yeah, sure he is. I would beg to differ, though. At least until I see some proof_ , he thought. "He's definitely something."

The guildmaster was staring blankly ahead, with an open smile on his face, eyes glazed over and not blinking. He looked really goofy in that moment. After a few seconds, he spoke. "Who are these two kind strangers?"

Before Tenor could redirect the conversation or accuse the two of anything, Vita spoke up. "I'm Vita. This here's Chance, and we wanna be an exploration team!"

"Oh, you two wanted to become apprentices of this here guild? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Tenor asked, attitude shifting drastically in the presence of the guildmaster. He then ushered the other three into the Guildmaster's Chamber, closing the doors behind him.

"Hiya! I'm Puff, the guildmaster of Wigglytuff's Guild." the Wigglytuff said.

"But, you will address him as _Guildmaster Wigglytuff_ if you are to stay here!" Tenor interjected.

"Don't worry about that! Feel free to call me Puff," the guildmaster said. He waved a stubby pink arm and did a spin in place.

"Got it, Floofy!" Vita said, saluting him.

"'Floofy'?!" Tenor screeched, freaking out again.

"Yup! That's my nickname for him!"

"You might not wanna give him a stroke, Vita," Chance whispered, noticing a vein popping up on Tenor's music note head.

"I like it!" Puff said. "But, is this true? Do you two really want to become an exploration team?"

"Absolutely!" Vita shouted. Chance just nodded from beside her.

"Okay then! First thing's first! Tell me your team's name!"

"Team name?" Chance asked.

"Every exploration team needs one, man!" Vita said.

"Do you have one in mind?"

"Nope!"

"That's great…" Chance trailed off, optimism slowly fizzling out.

"It's okay, take your time. Your team name is one of the most important parts about an exploration team. And once you choose one and sign it on a certificate, we won't allow you to change it unless there's an emergency," Puff informed them.

 _What qualifies as an emergency?_ Chance wondered.

Tenor hopped to a nearby tree stump with a piece of paper in his beak and a stick of charcoal in a foot. Placing the paper down, he gave the charred wood to Vita with a sour expression, apparently still not over the whole unresolved sentry grate situation. The paper had "Wigglytuff's Guild" written in large print at the top of it, along with a stamp of what Chance assumed was the guildmaster's handprint and a blank line.

"Hmm… what about Team Limit?" Vita asked.

'Which goes to say what? That we have them?" Chance asked back.

"No, I just thought that it sounded kinda cool." She started twirling the charcoal in her hand, black soot dusting her white fur. "Team names ought to sound cool."

"Anything else? Don't look at me. I'm horrible at coming up with names," Chance said, eying a treasure chest overflowing with vibrant gems off to the side of the room.

"Uh… Team Derivative?"

"Do you even know what that means?!" Chance shouted. Vita shook her head no, and the Torchic almost fell over at this. "It means, like, we're counterfeits! Not original. What's with the math terms, anyway?!"

Vita shrugged. She said, "Oops. Didn't know that. Just thought it sounded cool."

"Enough with coolness! We won't be able to change it, so let's just choose something decent."

"Team Liberation?"

"No! That has a super weird connotation to it!"

"Team Chain?" Chance shook his head no. "Team Link?" Again, it wasn't good enough. "Team… Fun?"

"Wow, we really don't have anything to go on. We're so different, and we just met each other today! Maybe we should come back when we have everything sorted out," Chance said, watching Puff just stare intently in their general direction.

"No! We got this, Chance. Come on. How about… Ooh! Team Endeavor!"

"Like the move?"

"Well, not really. Like, it means to try your hardest to do something you care about, right?"

Chance nodded his head. _Okay, where is she going with this?_ he thought. "Sure. And?"

"I mean, we both kinda have slightly different goals. I wanna have fun, you wanna be stronger, right? So, we'll endeavor to an endeavor that works out for both of us!" Vita said with a smile.

Chance really couldn't argue with that. _It's not bad. She looks like she actually put some thought into it. She can be really smart when she wants to. It has a ring to it, too._ "I mean, if there's nothing else, then I'm fine with it."

"Yeah. Yeah! And we'll find other Pokemon to fill the other two slots on our team who strive in their own endeavors. Wow, that word sounds funny now. Am I even using it right anymore?" Vita shook her head and walked over to the stump with the certificate on it. She raised her right hand and pressed the charcoal to the paper. Chance popped up beside her, putting his beak gently on the table to keep his head up and see; he wasn't that tall.

In relatively messy handwriting, Vita scrawled "Team Endeavor" on the empty horizontal line. Tenor grabbed it in his beak shortly after and filed it away in a place neither new recruit could catch wind of.

"Okay, Team Endeavor! Hiya! Here we go. Take this, first," Puff said, placing a yellow boy before them. He lifted the lid, revealing an aged map, a white circular badge with a pink jewel in the center and two gold wings to the side, and a one-strapped brown bag with a miniature version of the badge on it as a button.

"This is a Pokemon Exploration Team Kit! It has everything a team should have. The badge is your official team identification; don't lose it! The map surely is a wonder; it helps you keep track in every dungeon you go in. And the bag let's you take items into dungeons," Puff listed off in one breath, taking a large gulp of air in after saying it all. "Man, I hate having to say that every time."

"Guildmaster, please, a little more professionalism!" Tenor said.

Puff pouted. He said, "Tenor, you _know_ you and everyone can call me by my name. I know you respect me!"

Tenor only whipped his head away and hopped towards the door. He pushed it open and waited, wagging his tail back away forth. "This way, new recruits. The day is still young. Let's see what you can do."

Vita nodded and shoved the map and badge into the carrying bag. She raised it over Chance's head and let it fall. "Ow! So heavy!"

Vita immediately lifted the bag back up and put it on herself, over her left shoulder and resting on her right hip. She lifted it to get a feel of the weight. "It's not heavy at all, man."

"For me it is…"

"Whatever you say." _There_ has _to be something. No one can be that fragile and weak. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. Mark my words. Chance, I'm your friend_ , she thought.

"Off we go!" Tenor said, hopping outside. Vita and Chance trailed him outside and to a ladder. "I'll show you to your room when you come back. But, first, we'll have you complete a job request and see what you can do."

They ascended the ladder to the first sublevel of the guild, which was even more bustling than the second one. Two large bulletin boards were the main points of interest at the moment. Tenor hopped over to the one to their right coming off the ladder. A couple of exploration teams were already huddled around it, leaving Tenor and the two new recruits to stand at a distance. Vita took note of an antsy-looking Natu standing near the board.

"This is the job board, where Pokemon in need of help for requests such as finding items or rescuing others post their missions. Today, I'll have you take on one quest from this board to gauge your capabilities, so do your best." Tenor stared at the two Pokemon in front of him, waiting for a response.

"Wait, what about the other one?" Chance asked, pecking in the direction of a second bulletin board.

"That's for requests regarding capturing outlaws. We'll leave that alone for now until you reach a higher rank."

"That's all we do?" Chance understood most all of what the Chatot told him, but failed to see what made doing such labor appealing to Vita.

"Yup! Helping others out while exploring mystery dungeons. A new experience each outing, a different Pokemon helped each quest," Vita said, eyes glimmering.

"Go ahead and pick a quest from the board. However, I warn you. Quests are ranked in a ballpark estimate of difficulty on a letter-and-number-based and system using E, D, C, B, A, S, *1, *2, *3, *4, *5, and *6, E being the easiest and *6 the hardest. I can't stop you from picking a difficult quest, but I highly advise you start small, especially since you two are beginners," Tenor said with his eyes narrowed.

"Okay!" Vita started walking towards the board, Chance in tow, but was stopped by an abundance of murmuring by all the other Pokemon on the floor.

"It's _them_ ," said a Beautifly.

"Team Maelstrom!" said a Dustox in return to his teammate.

"Their brothers are _so_ cool!" exclaimed a Cutiefly by the job board.

"Kunai, can I have your autograph?!" shouted a Poliwag.

Vita and Chance stopped to see what the commotion was about. Coming out from the ladder entrance was a group of three Pokemon: a Charmander, a Froakie, and a Rowlet. They all seemed to recognize the attention they were receiving and pretended to not, smirking and sauntering over to the job board.

The Pokemon by the board cleared a straight path to it for the three new Pokemon on the floor. "Who are they?" Vita asked out loud to no one in particular.

Tenor went up to her and answered. Chance leaned his head in to hear as well. "They're apprentices that have been here for a few months. All of them have a brother on another exploration team that are veterans of this guild, and are well known in a number of other towns. Team Maelstrom is their name, and they have great potential."

"But, only one of them's a water-type," Vita said, scratching her head and not looking that impressed.

"I don't think that's the point," Chance said, laughing slowly. _Does she think what she says through sometimes? Well, at least she knows what maelstrom means._

The team walked in a v-formation, the Charmander in the middle with Froakie to his right and Rowlet to his left. Their personalities seemed to be leaking from them, nothing too complex to figure out. The swagger that the fire-type walked with practically spelled out his position as the confident leader, and his cocky smile supported this. The Froakie's lax eyes and indifferent posture seemed to label him as the cool guy who didn't care. The Rowlet's bright smile and somewhat flirtatious eyes, and that he was the only one waving at people made him look like the friendly and sociable one.

"Can you spell popular? Hey, Tenor, are they nice guys?" Chance asked, feeling intimidated by the apparent celebrities in their midst.

"I can't speak for them, but they are very excellent at completing quests," the bird answered.

"They seem overrated," Vita said as she yawned.

"Well, they're not as renowned as their brothers, but they certainly are working towards filling their shoes just as hard," Tenor said before putting a wing on both of their backs. "Now, off you go. Pick an approachable quest and set out. At the crossroads when you leave this tent, to the left there's a sign pointing you to the general location of the mystery dungeons on this continent. Be back by nightfall, and good luck!" He took his leave after this, going back downstairs.

With a light push, Vita and Chance started towards the bulletin board. They squeezed through a gap made by the two exploration teams that had been checking it out earlier. They finally got a position where they could see all the job requests, and Vita kept one eye in front of her, and the other focused at both Team Maelstrom and the Natu from earlier.

Her interest in the Natu became justified and she saw the bird hopping up by the side of the bulletin board, a paper in her beak. The Natu stopped jumping when she saw the trio of starters looking for a job. "Umm… Excuse me? Team Maelstrom, was it?"

"Yes, can we help you?" The Charmander asked with his arms crossed.

"Well, I have a job request here, and if you could, I would like it completed as soon as possible," the Natu said.

"Sure! What is it?" the Rowlet asked, flying towards the other bird and swiping the paper in her beak in his. He flew back and passed the paper over to the Froakie.

The blue frog took not even five seconds glancing over the paper before crumpling it up and tossing it back at the Natu. He shook his head left and right. The Charmander saw this and put a hand up. The Natu widened her already large eyes and started sweating. "Umm, c-can you help?"

"Sorry, kid, no can do. We only take quests that are worth our time, and yours is not it. Beat it," the Charmander said, turning back to the bulletin board.

"What?" the Natu asked before getting pushed away from the trio by some odd fans.

"Your not worthy of them," said a random Nincada before shoving the Natu towards the ladder exit. The bird fell back and started rolling until she hit a wall, her job request tossed at her by someone and hitting her on the head.

This made Vita _really_ angry. She was radiating a hostile aura, baring her teeth, and her arms were pressed onto the floor, trembling from the force she was putting on them. Chance noticed this immediately, especially since she started growling. "Vita, what are you gonna do?"

"Hey, you three!" she shouted out of nowhere, pointing straight at the Charmander, causing about two dozen heads to snap her way.

"We're standing right in front of you," the Froakie coolly said.

"Who do you think you are?" She was still shouting, moving closer to the three and looming over them.

"We're Team Maelstrom," the Rowlet said with a wink. Someone in the bystanding crowd squealed.

"Uh, I'm Chance and she's Vita!" Chance interjected, having a feeling that Vita was on the verge of attacking them like she had Team Chaos just earlier.

"Ace," the Charmander said in a low, bored voice. He pointed at the Froakie, then the Rowlet. "Kunai, Archer."

"Like I said, who do you think you are?! Rejecting that girl's request like that. I mean, come on! An explorer is supposed to help anyone in need!" Vita yelled, punching the wall for dramatic effect.

"Her job was Rank E. We don't do anything lower than B," Kunai said quietly.

"So?! She went up to you to ask her!"

"Doesn't mean we have to take it." Archer shrugged and did a loop in the air.

"You didn't have to crumple her job request up and throw it away like it was trash, then!" Vita held her arms above her head to make herself look more intimidating. Her arms were trembling, vaguely glowing, like she was contemplating whether or not to use an attack.

Ace turned around with two pieces of paper in his hand. "Let's go, guys. We got two requests today. We're rolling out!"

Without even answering Vita, the three of them turned around and walked away. As they left, the rest of the Pokemon on the floor started cheering for Team Maelstrom, leaving Vita with a bitter expression and a heightened blood pressure. "Jerks. They're not heroes."

"You can't say that," said a Pansear over Vita's shoulder. She whipped around to face him. "They're a Silver Rank team. Who are you? Some inexperienced newbies, I'm guessing by your ignorance. You got no credibility."

"Who the hell are you?" Vita asked, still seething from the encounter. The Pansear shrugged and left.

"Hey, Vita? Just calm down, okay?" Chance didn't want anything to happen to draw any more attention them. The crowd had dispersed and little to no one was staring at them anymore.

"Yeah, okay. Sorry, man. It's just that guys like them _really_ get on my nerves. 'Humble' is a good trait to have, right?"

"Humility? Uh, yeah, it is. Guess there really are guys like them around in addition to DJ and Chewie."

The Natu from earlier hopped over to the two chatting with her crumpled job request in her beak. She dropped it and said, "Excuse me?"

"Yeah? Can we help you?" Chance asked with a friendly smile.

"You okay?" Vita circled around the green bird, checking over for any injuries.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I hope. Just… Thank you for standing up for me, if you can call it that. But, you didn't have to. I didn't actually expect them to take my job," she said.

Vita gave a smile and stood in front of the Natu. "No problem. I'm Vita, and here's Chance."

"I heard. I'm Delthea. Are you guys an exploration team, too?"

"Yup!" Vita proudly said, taking their team badge out and holding it out with complete confidence and pride in their beginning rank badge. "We're Team Endeavor!"

"Really?!" Delthea perked up at this. "Then, do you mind taking my request?"

Without even responding, Vita picked up the wad of paper and flattened it out. Chance hopped next to her to try to get a view of what was written. Vita started reading it out loud as Delthea waited patiently.

"Please help! My friend Fay got chased by that group of bullies, Team Chaos, out of Treasure Town. They stopped pursuing her once she left town, but she kept flying away! I think I know where she went: to Honey Forest! That's her home, and I want to make sure she's okay and that she comes back here. We were going to go to an event together at Spinda's Cafe later today!" Vita read.

Chance took an exaggerated intake of air. "Youch, so I'm not the only one? I know how mean Chewie and DJ can be, myself."

"Yeah, almost every day they come and pick on us. They're mean on the both of us, but they scare Fay the most," Delthea said as she fluttered her wings. "So, will you help?"

"Absolutely!" Vita said without waiting for Chance's input.

"Wait! Uh…" Chance trailed off. _I can't actually come up with a reason to say no. Well, I guess it can't be_ that _bad_ , he thought. "Never mind."

"Alright! Our first mission, Chance. Are you ready?!"

"I guess," he said with the bare minimum of confidence that Vita would have accepted from him.

"Um, if you don't mind… Can I come with you? I think I can sense and find Fay. I've known her for years!" Delthea said.

 _You "think" you can? What is that supposed to mean?_ Chance thought. "Can she?"

"Yeah, a bunch of job requests are escort missions. Let's go!" Vita said, heading for the exit. She was followed by Chance, then Delthea.

They exited Wigglytuff's Guild, taking note of the gaping hole into the earth in front of the tent where the sentry grate should have been. "That looks bad," Vita noted.

Instead of taking a left like Tenor told them to, they went right, into Treasure Town. "Gotta stock up on items, just in case," Vita insisted.

Looking around, Vita couldn't help but make an observation out loud. "Wow, lotta ghost-types. Kinda spooky."

She wasn't wrong. Gathered around in the middle of a path was a group of members of the Gastly evolution line. Off to the side was a Golurk and a Mimikyu doing an little dance, surrounded by a crowd of cheering Pokemon. Several Litwicks were scattered all about while humming a song together.

"Yeah, there's been an influx of ghost-types lately. Dunno why, but it has been. I heard that there was a forest fire in a dungeon where they live, so maybe that's it," Chance said. He wouldn't admit, but he was kind of intimidated by ghost-types. He broke out into a small cold sweat.

They speed-walked through the marketplace, past Duskull Bank, past Electivire Link Shop, straight to Kecleon Market. Two Kecleon, one green and one purple, greeted them excitedly. "Hello! Welcome to Kecleon Market!"

"Hey, Vita? I don't have any money," Chance whispered. He was lucky he was orange, otherwise his blush would have been evident. Vita just smiled and patted his head.

"Hello! We're a new exploration team, looking for some items. Can we?" Vita said politely, much calmer than Chance expected.

"Absolutely! I'm Joseph, and I sell items you can hold and eat!" said the green Kecleon. "Slogan pending."

"I'm Jonathan, and I sell orbs and TMs! Only for the best explorers!" the purple Kecleon said, rubbing two fingers together.

Vita immediately scooted over to stand in front of the green, younger brother. Jonathan looked defeated. "Okay, ignore me."

"Sorry, man, I don't have the money for a TM. Oh, wait! Do you have an escape orb?" Vita perked up, holding a small sack of poke.

"Right here, ma'am!" said the purple bro.

Chance took a step back as Vita perused the goods that the Kecleon brothers offered. She didn't haggle on prices, which he actually expected her to do.

"She's a lively one. Uh, right?" Delthea whispered into Chance's ear.

"Yeah. Just about sums her up from what I've seen," he answered.

Vita walked up to them, stuffing oran berries, apples, and a sack of pebbles into the explorer's bag they got from Wigglytuff. "Alright, ready to head out?"

"Hey, Vita, wait. Can we stop by my place? I should tell my parents what I've gotten myself into," Chance said.

"Well, if Delthea's good with it," Vita replied.

The Natu nodded and smiled. "Fay should be fine. I think. I hope. I just wanted to remind her about our little date later and make sure she was okay. I'm sure she is. Mostly."

"Lead the way, Chance."

The Torchic started walking towards the outskirts of Treasure Town. Vita and Delthea trailed him as they made their way to a grassy plain. A little wooden house stood tall that seemed to radiate warmth. Chance went straight up to the door and pushed it in with his round head. "Mom! Dad! I'm back!"

Two Blaziken, one at a cauldron of soup and the other apparently meditating, were inside. The one that was meditating stood up and walked over to the Torchic, kneeling down and putting a hand on his head. With a gruff voice, he said, "Hello, Son. Is everything okay?"

"Uh-huh!" Chance said, bobbing his head up and down. Vita and Delthea were left at the door, not wanting to intrude without being invited.

"Come sit down, Chance. Lunch is almost ready," said the other Blaziken.

"Okay, Mom!" Chance hopped over before realizing that his friend and the Natu were not following him anymore. "Guys, come in! It okay."

"Hmm? Are you friends of Chance?" asked the male Blaziken.

"You got it!" Vita loudly proclaimed.

"Well, I'm his client, actually. Right?" Delthea said.

"Client? Is everything _really_ okay, Son?" his father asked.

"Well… I have something to tell you, Dad." Chance took a seat at a table with a bowl in front of him. His mother came over and ladled some soup with a green tint to it into his bowl.

"Okay, then, come in! We have plenty of food to go around, especially for friends of our son! Friends, Dear, friends!" his mother said, putting more bowls on the table.

"Yes, I heard, Celsi," his father said, crossing his arms and wearing a proud smile.

"Can you _not_ talk like that?" Chance groaned.

"Umm… Actually, I don't think I'm his friend. I think. Right?" Delthea asked. Chance just shook his head.

"Well, it's not like we're enemies, huh?" he joked. The two small birds shared a laugh. Chance's parents chuckled in the background.

Vita sauntered on in and took the seat to the right of Chance. "Thanks for having me, sir, ma'am."

 _She can be_ really _polite when she wants to_ , Chance took note of. "It's nothing, Vita."

Delthea teleported onto the table since she was too short to take a seat on a chair. She started pecking at the soup placed in front of her. "Thank you for having me," she echoed Vita.

"Nothing to it. Please, call me Celsi," Chance's mother said, taking a seat at the table.

"Anything for friends of our son. I'm Impact," his father said.

"Vita."

"Delthea."

They took a minute to eat in silence before Celsi piped up. Her excitement was evident. "So, how did you meet my son?"

"Mom!" Chance felt flustered. _Talk about embarrassing!_

"I saved him from these four jerks earlier, " Vita said while sipping some soup loudly. Her manners did not stay for long.

"Saved? Jerks? Chance, did that Team Loss corner you again? We told you, if they do trouble you again, you have to tell us!" Impact said sternly, putting his spoon down.

"I think they're called Team Chaos,actually. I hope I'm right," Delthea whispered.

"Dad, really, it's nothing! Vita really did save me! She fought DJ and Chewie and knocked them out! She was so cool!" Chance's eyes glimmered.

"Really? A fighter, are we?" Impact asked.

"Huh? Oh, kinda. I'm actually an explorer, but I love a good battle. Those two bugs were not a good one, though," she said through another sip. "This is good soup, Celsi. Thank you. Oh, but I'm not the only explorer! Chance is my partner!"

The clattering of two spoons made Chance and the two visitors look up. His parents went slack jaw. "Explorers?" they both said.

"Uh, yeah, I _kinda_ wanted to tell you this. This is why I wanted to come back here," he said, they second half to Vita.

"Should I really be here?" Delthea asked, but got no response.

"Mom, Dad, I joined an exploration team today! Me and Vita are apprentices at Wigglytuff's Guild over that way!" Chance proudly proclaimed.

"We're Team Endeavor!" she added after finishing off her serving of soup.

"Dear Groudon," they both said in awe. Then, they both got up and kneeled by their son. Celsi touched his forehead while Impact stared straight into his son's eyes.

"Chance, one more time: are you _sure_ you're alright?" Impact asked.

"Yeah, Dad, I am. I wasn't sure about joining myself, but it was kinda a spur of the moment thing," Chance said, kicking his feet. "But, the way Vita talks about exploration teams and what they can do… It just made me want to join her. I can do it. _We_ can do it! I'll become stronger!"

His parents looked at each other and nodded, pride filling their eyes. Celsi picked up her small son and hugged him. "We're so proud of you, Chance."

"Mom, it's okay. I'll be fine!" Chance reassured her.

Celsi looked at her husband again and they nodded once more. Impact said, "Then, how about we go outside and see what you can do? You know, I was part of an exploration team when I was young, too, Son."

Chance smiled and hopped off the chair he was sitting on. He regretted it immediately, legs collapsing under him.. "Owie!"

His father instantly picked him up and pet his head. "It's okay. Don't push yourself. A hurt you isn't going to help anyone."

They left, leaving Vita, Delthea, and Celsi. Delthea kept quiet, trying to stay in the background. Celsi put a hand on Vita's shoulder and said," Thank you so much for being friends with my son. If he's told me everything that's happened to him with other Pokemon, then you're his first ever friend. I can't thank you enough. You as well." She looked up to Delthea.

"It's no problem at all. I mean, I just met him a couple hours ago, but he's pretty cool. A little shy and weak, but cool."

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Have you noticed that, well, Chance is a little… delicate?"

"You mean that he's super fragile and can't even jump, like, two feet in the air without hurting himself?"

"Exactly." Celsi closed her eyes and clenched a fist above her heart. Vita waited for her to continue. Delthea just listened intently, no wanting to interrupt the moment. "You see, Chance has this… condition. And, I don't think I should be the one to tell you this; I want him to tell you it himself when he feels comfortable."

"Okay, got it. I don't really mind it _that_ much, I guess. I just hope he doesn't end up _really_ hurting himself," Vita said, tapping the table rhythmically. "I won't pry. He's my friend."

"And I can't thank you enough for that. Because of his condition, Chance always prefers to avoid other Pokemon and stay inside. He gets picked on for this, as well. Like I said, you're his first friend, and I've never seen him so determined like he just was. And to be an explorer on a team? I can't be any more proud of him." Celsi looked out a window to see Impact and Chance outside.

Impact was holding both of his hands out while Chance breathed out Ember. Celsi smiled. Vita did as well and said, "Yeah, I get it. I'll try to protect him the best I can, if that's what you're worried about."

"Yes, if you could. I will tell you this much: if any dungeon requires jumping or any dangerous scaling, carry Chance with you. If any Pokemon lunges at him, with a physical attack especially, try to gently push him out of the way. And please don't push him to use _any_ physical attacks on his own," Celsi said in all seriousness. "But, don't push yourself too far, either, Vita."

Vita kept nodding her head the whole spiel. A minute after Celsi finished, she said,"Okay, got it. I'll try to keep him safe. He'll hold onto the map and be the compass, and I'll fight all the battles."

"Well, don't do _all_ the work. He does a mean Ember, you know?" Celsi said with a wink. "He can attack from behind you."

"Okay. Can't wait."

"Umm… I'm sorry! I shouldn't have been here for this, huh? I hope you can forgive me!" Delthea shouted, bowing her head.

"Huh, you've been quiet. You ready to go?" Vita said, not paying attention to what she just said.

"You don't have to worry about that, dear. Please, just get along with Chance, okay" Celsi asked, petting the Natu.

"O-okay," Delthea managed to say.

The door swung open and Chance and his father entered. The Torchic had determination burning in his eyes. "Let's go, Vita! Let's rescue Fay!"

"That's the spirit, Gobbles!" Vita shouted, jumping onto the floor and waving her arms in the air.

"'Gobbles'?" Celsi covered her mouth to suppress a laugh.

"That's something to remember," Impact said, walking up to his wife. "He's ready. I think he can do it."

"Just a second. Chance, dear? Come here, please," Celsi said. Chance bounded on over to his mother.

"Yeah, Mom?" Before he knew it, Celsi had kneeled down beside him and tied a string around his foot, which had a small pebble attached to it. "What is this?"

"A float stone. I bought it from one of the Kecleon brothers earlier today. I was going to give it to you when you came home, so here it is. It'll help prevent some of the stress on your legs when you walk and jump."

"Oh! Thank you!"

"Think nothing of it, Son." They shared an embrace. Chance then walked over to his friend.

"Mom, Dad, we're gonna go now!" Chance shouted by the door.

"Okay, have fun!" they both shouted back.

The three other Pokemon marched on out. They went back through Treasure Town and to the crossroads, Vita leading the way. Near the exit to the land of mystery dungeons, there was a sign. It read, "Explorers! Flash badge and say name of intended dungeon to set out".

"What does this mean?" Chance asked, rereading the sign to make sure he understood it correctly.

"Dunno. Can't hurt to try, though." Vita dug through her bag and pulled out their team badge. She held it up and said, "Honey Forest."

Not even a minute after, an Alakazam appeared before them. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Wait, are _you_ going to take us to Honey Forest?" Chance asked.

"Yes, but only to the entrance. The exploration of the dungeon is your job. Will you set out now?" the psychic-type asked.

Vita smiled and said, "Yes we are. The three of us, if you will, good sir."

The Alakazam closed his eyes and glowed blue. The Vigoroth, Torchic, and Natu were cloaked in psychic energy soon after. In and instant, they found themselves outside of a lush, green forest that had a sweet-smelling atmosphere. "Here we are, Honey Forest. You are only allowed to call me again to bring you back to the guild with your badge when you reach the end of the dungeon or complete a job request."

"How do we do that?" Vita asked, shoving the badge back into their explorer's bag. "And what's your name, man?"

"Just call my name. It is Psych."

"You got it!" she said with a salute before he teleported elsewhere. "Wonder what nickname I should give him."

"So, here we are." Chance gulped and felt his legs trembling. _My first job request as an explorer. I have to admit, this feels kind of exciting. I can see how Vita said she likes the explorer's life. But, this is her first dungeon, too, I think. At least as an explorer, so I don't have to try too hard to impress her._

"She's here, alright. I can sense her. She's on… Floor Four. I think." Delthea started hopping in anticipation.

"Wait, can't you use Teleport as well?" Chance asked her. The Natu nodded. "Then why didn't you just teleport to where Fay is yourself?"

Delthea looked down. She said, "Oh, uh, that's kinda a problem. I, uh, am not that strong with… my psychic abilities. I can teleport myself, like, a few feet, but no more than that. That's usually why Team Chaos picks on me."

"That's alright. We're already here, aren't we?" Vita kept it light.

"Yeah, you're right," Chance said, shrugging.

"And, also, I've never been inside Honey Forest. I wouldn't even know where to start in teleporting there. And, since it's a mystery dungeon, the layout always changes anyway, I think, so that wouldn't help."

"Wait, so the fact that they're called 'mystery dungeons' because they're always different each time you go in _isn't_ a rumor?" Chance asked. Vita and Delthea nodded. _Huh, guess Team Chaos does know some stuff. But, it's not that impressive when I learned that when they were holding me upside down!_

"Okay, before we head out, let's confirm the mission," Vita said with a confident smile. "We go in, find this girl named Fay, and get out. Simple."

"What does Fay look like?" Chance asked.

"She's a Combee, so it should be easy to spot her. Female ones are hard to come by, not that I wouldn't recognize her if I saw her. I think. There's also a bunch of male ones in here, so there's that, as well." Delthea stared straight into the forest ahead of her.

"Any Pokemon we should watch out for?" Vita asked, punching the air in front of her to psych herself up.

"I think they're some Beedrill that know Fury Attack, and Munchlax that can get kinda annoying. I hope this goes smoothly," Delthea answered.

"Alright, we gotta be in sync when we go in. What moves can you guys use? I'll lead the way, but I can't cover you guys all the way. I can use Fire and Ice Punch, Fury Swipes, Slash, and Brick Break." Vita was warming up, running in place and cracking her neck.

"I can use Teleport, kinda, Peck, Psyshock, and Night Shade. I'm not big on fighting, though. I'm not that strong," Delthea said.

Chance hesitated before answering. _I don't really want to say. But, I don't think they'll judge me. Please, let me be right_. "I know Ember, Growl, and… Sand Attack. But, I can only use Sand Attack if the sand is really soft."

"What? Not even Scratch or Peck? Oh, wait, nothing physical, right?" Vita asked, wishing she could take back what she said.

"What was that last part?" he asked and tilted his head. _She started murmuring half way through_. "But, yeah, I only really have Ember. Sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it. How about we do this when we encounter a hostile Pokemon: I'll attack first, then you finish him off if they don't go down in one hit, Gobbles. And, if they're still standing, Tuna can teleport in front of them and land the last hit. But, if you don't wanna, then I'll take the hit. Clients should be take care of, not injured if it can be avoided. That's how I see it, anyway. And, if either of you want, you can take this pouch of geo pebbles I bought earlier. You won't have to attack, then."

Neither of them reached out for the pouch, specifically for the lack-of-hands-and-arms situation they had going on, but appreciated the offer. Chance and Delthea felt touched at Vita's consideration for their limited contributions to the team. But, Delthea also felt confused. "Did you just call me Tuna?"

"Yeah, why? I like givin' my friends nicknames. You're an Natu, yeah? Na-tu, Tu-na, you feel me?" Vita smiled brightly.

Delthea didn't have the heart to knock the Vigoroth down. _Well, I don't mind it that much. It's_ kinda _cute, I guess. Wonder if she'll give Fay one, too. Tee hee!_ "Yeah, I don't not like it, I think."

"You're really indecisive and unsure of yourself, huh?" Vita said, looking Delthea up and down.

"Ha ha, y-yeah, I guess," Delthea replied, confirming Vita's thought.

"Be more confident. Live a little. Have some fun."

"Do you really think this'll go well?" Chance asked, legs still shaking.

"Let's see for ourselves." With this, Vita started walking into the lush Honey Forest. Chance ran to catch up to her and kept a short distance of not even two feet away from her. Delthea tried hopping, but couldn't catch up. She ended up using teleport to keep up with the other two.

"Let's go a little slower inside. Who knows what'll happen," Vita said, stepping into the dungeon, off of an established path. "Here, Gobbles, take the map."

"Uh, how? I can hold it in my beak, I guess, but I can't exactly draw on it, y'know?" he said. Vita carelessly tossed the map over her shoulder, which ended up floating down and landing on Chance's head like a hat.

"I can try to hold it up with some psychic energy. There's not promising that it'll work, though," Delthea said.

"Don't worry. I did my research. Apparently, the Wonder Map resonates with the something-waves of a mystery dungeon and fills up on its own as we explore areas, and changes each floor we go. I think. Ach, Tuna, you're rubbing off on me!" Vita said, marching forwards.

"Sorry," Delthea said quietly.

"Really? Wow, I really _do_ have no idea about being an explorer. But, even if that's the case, I can't hold it up!" Chance exclaimed.

"It's okay. I'm still learning, too. But, the point is to have fun, 'member?" Vita said, stopping in her tracks to turn around and look at the two Pokemon following her.

"Right!" Chance shouted, doing a hop.

"Well, I _might_ have an idea about the map situation. I think," Delthea said. The other two looked at her expectedly. "Why don't you stick it to Vita's back? You walk right behind her, and you're always gonna see her back, so it might work. I hope."

"Really? Would it?" Chance asked. _Uh, that would be really awkward, especially if Vita doesn't want to do it_ , he thought.

"I don't mind, if it works, that is. Let's try it." Vita took the map and kept pressing it to her back, but found it unable to stick. Even when she ruffled her fur, little to no static was conducted to help the paper stay in place.

"You can stop now, y'know? I don't think it's gonna work!" Chance shouted to try to get Vita's attention. She ignored him and proceeded to rub her back against a tree that was sticky for reasons other than honey. Vita really hoped it was sap or berry juice. Pressing the paper to her back, it was another failed attempt.

"It ain't workin'," she said, rolling the map back up.

"He said that before you ruined your fur," Delthea said, stifling a chucke.

"Yeah, I think we can skip the map, at least for here. This place doesn't seem too big, and I have at pretty good memory. If we really need a map, we can stop and pull it out, or I can sketch it in the dirt!" Chance said, feeling rather proud. _Yeah, I can really contribute something! I can draw pretty good, too, if I can say so myself!_

"Okay. And, yeah, you're right. Maybe we got lucky and got spit out into a simple dungeon layout," Vita said, stuffing the map back into the bag. She touched her sticky and pointed back fur. "Eh, I'll just roll around in a puddle later"

"Right…' Delthea and Chance both trailed off. _A puddle?!_

"Alright, so, onwards! To rescue Fay!"

* * *

Author's note: So, here's Chapter Two! If anyone guessed that Chewie was based off the Vato Bros from _Disgaea 3_ , then you'd be right! I love them. Boss! Boss! Boss!

A note about Team Maelstrom: I specifically cherry-picked them for a reason, as well as another future team. Call it some metaphor or something poetic like that that I'm too lazy to explain about popular Pokemon and unpopular ones.


	3. How Righteous

"Vita, are you sure you know where we're going?" Chance had to ask. For the past what felt like half hour, they had been wandering around in what seemed to be a large circle. _My legs are tired!_

"Yeah. Didn't I say to trust me?" She didn't even bother looking at him. If Chance had to guess, it was probably because she was lying and had a horrible poker face.

"Umm… I don't mean to butt in, but I can feel us getting ever so farther away from Fay. I think." Delthea was lazily hopping forwards with her eyes closed, having used all of her energy using Teleport to keep up with her two escorts earlier. In her interest, Vita slowed down to a crawling speed.

"Can we check the map?" The Torchic pecked at the bag slung around Vita to try to get her to stop. Unlike her comrades, she had excess energy to go around. The Vigoroth came to a full halt and sighed.

"Okay, okay, I admit it: I don't know where we are right now." Chance and Delthea almost fainted on site at her words.

"So blunt?" Chance started actually questioning what he got himself into at this.

"I'm not sure myself. I've just been following the sweet scent of this place around. Thought that that would lead us to the next floor." Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her nose was glistening. She sniffled. "Sorry."

Chance just sighed and pulled the map out of the explorer's bag and splayed it on the ground, taking note of the floor's layout. According to it, they had explored five large chambers that filled out almost exactly five sixths of the wonder map. That is to say, it was a safe bet to think that they had explored every single square foot of the floor except for the room with the exit.

"Hey, Vita?" Delthea pecked at the Vigoroth's leg.

"Yeah?"

"Did you say you were following a sweet scent?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Or Sweet Scent? Like the move?"

"Not sure, but whatever it is, it's makin' me lightheaded. Smells super good, though. But, I might be allergic, actually." A sneeze somewhat confirmed this.

"It's not honey you're smelling?"

"Don't think so. Kinda perfumey."

Delthea felt herself losing faith in her escorts. "Um, almost every Pokemon here can use Sweet Scent. Fay told me that if you ever found yourself here, you need to follow the scent of honey to make it to the end. 'Cause, y'know, the name? I hope I'm right."

"Oops." Vita waved it off, rubbing her watery eyes. _Jeez, as much as I want to help Delthea and Fay, I'm not sure how much longer I can stay here. But, no, I have to push myself. It's my, our first job request._

"Guys?" Chance chuckled at Vita's nonchalance, half genuine, half uncomfortable. He tapped his claw on the wonder map. "We need to go south-west from here. That's the only place we haven't covered."

"Aight, let's do this!" Vita stood up tall and tried to shake off her allergies. But, something was tugging at her mind. "Huh, y'know what?"

"What?" both birds said.

"It's kinda weird that we haven't encountered any other Pokemon, huh?"

The three of them shared a look before Chance yelped and jumped into the air. Vita caught him by the head to secure a safe landing. "O-other Pokemon? Like, to battle?"

"Yeah, to battle. Part of the job, right?" Vita winked as she said this, which made Chance even more anxious. She looked down at the map laid beside Chance and focused on it. In the room they were in, there were three resonating souls on the map represented as glowing dots. Electromagnetic waves of the mystery dungeon were reacting with the map to form the image. Two dots were blue, corresponding to her and Chance, the rescue team. One was yellow, Delthea, who was the client. There were no hostile Pokemon in their chamber as far as she knew; no red dots were shown. "Safe for now, though."

With that, she rolled the map back up and put it away, marching on without giving either bird a heads up. Both quickly perked up and ran after her. They made it to the last chamber of the floor without encountering any other Pokemon, much to Chance's relief.

But, in that room, Chance would have rather met an enemy. In front of them, ever so slightly off center of the rectangular chamber formed by impassable trees and shrubs, was a tall flight of stairs. He gawked in awe and utter confusion as to why there was a flight of stairs in the middle of a _forest_. At least another Pokemon could have been believably explained. "Hey, Vita? Why the hell is there a flight of stairs here?!"

The Vigoroth and Natu climbed onto the first step before stopping to wait for the Torchic. "What? It'll take us to the next floor."

"Floor?! We're in a forest!"

"Yeah. Or, area of the dungeon. Whatever floats your boat. It's just a thing. Exploration team 101."

"What?!" _Oh, no, I'm sounding like Tenor right now, aren't I?._

"I mean, it's a _mystery_ dungeon. Do I really have to explain?" Vita took a break to wipe her nose. "Just don't think too hard about this. Your head's gonna burst if you do. I know I got a headache when I first learned about this. I guess just see it as a warp point."

"So, it's just like that? It's just a thing that can't be explained?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I just said that. _Mystery_ dungeon, 'member?"

"Tch, might as well call it a _magic_ dungeon, then," Chance said under his breath. Looking about Delthea, she wasn't even fazed in the least bit. "No reaction from you?"

"What? Even _I_ know that."

 _Of course I'm alone on this. Wow, this is actually way more complex that I thought than just go in, finish mission, and get out. Battling, stairs, floors, oh, my. This is natural? Apparently so. Guess I'll just trust Vita on this._ "Riiight," he said as he took a hop up the stairs. The bad feeling in the pit of his stomach made him dread what was in store for him next. _Please tell me I'm overreacting._

Without any further inquiry or skeptical comment from Chance, the trio made their way to the second floor unharmed, which was really just another sector of Honey Forest. But, no more than two yards away from Chance where they ended up (with no way out since the stairs disappeared behind them as they climbed it) was a sleeping Roselia.

She was resting in a patch of the forest that wasn't shaded by tall, full trees. A bubble of clean air seemed to surround her, probably a byproduct of her natural photosynthesis. Chance jumped back to cower behind Vita, forgetting whatever pride he had.

"Just relax, Gobbles. She won't wake up unless we get all up in her business. Let's just go around her." Vita beckoned the two birds to follow her, pointing at a narrow hallway off to the east. "But, just so you know, we can't always avoid battles. 'Kay?"

Before he could respond, a sneeze cut through, reverberating off the walls like it was in an echo chamber. Vita couldn't hold it in anymore. As the Roselia was sleeping, she was secreting Sweet Scent and pollen from her flowers, agitating Vita's senses. "Oh, 'scuse me."

The Roselia woke up and did not look pleased. "Can I _help_ you?" she hissed, wiping at her face, which seemed to be the bull's-eye for Vita's sneeze.

"No, just passing through." Vita was surprisingly calm. Either that or completely ignorant. Or, perhaps a mix of both? Probably that one.

"I'm _sure_ you were, and that you absolutely _had_ to _sneeze_ on me just like you did, hmm?" Her voice was rather snobby. It kind of clashed with the fact that she was just sleeping not a minute ago on the icky floor of a forest. The blue flower of her hand started glowing yellow.

"Sorry, okay?! Sorry!" Vita started running away, guessing as to what was to go down. She only made it one yard before Roselia unleashed her attack. It was Stun Spore, a deep yellow that came out like a plume of curry powder.

The Vigoroth was quick enough to dodge the attack, but as a tradeoff, she had switched spots with Chance. That is to say, Chance got hit with Stun Spore instead. "Heeeey!"

"Bye!" And Delthea was out of there! She panicked and used all of her focus to use Teleport to the other corner of the chamber they were in.

"Chance!" Vita reached a hand out to him, but retracted it immediately. _Probably shouldn't. It'll wear off. Right? Well, I can fight for now. Just gotta keep my eye on the both of them. Can't be that hard. This flower doesn't look that sharp, either._ "Okay, that's it. _I'm_ your opponent!"

"Then why did you run away?!" Roselia's flower glowed again as she took aim at Vita.

"Umm, help?!" Chance shouted, currently surrounded by a shocking wave preventing him from moving fluidly.

"Not now." Vita smoothly skipped over to Chance and kicked him softly so he scooted over a few yards to safety.

"Hey!" He softly tumbled down, plopping into his bum. Luckily for him, and thanks to his float stone and the cushy grass, it was a soft landing.

"Are you taking this seriously or not?!" Before Vita could look at the source of sound, leaves went flying at her coated in a colorful energy at high speed. Magical Leaf was a cruel mistress, soaring faster than the Vigoroth could comprehend.

Out of instinct, Vita blocked her face, but it didn't do much as the impact was anything but softened. She had shut her eyes when she was hit, and when she opened them, some clumps of fur fell to the ground below. She shook it off, smirking. "Now it's my turn."

Her right hand was set ablaze, harnessing a Fire Punch. In an instant, a blinding right hook was delivered to the grass-type. The Roselia stumbled backwards and tried to blink the pain away, groaning in disgust. "Get your mangy paws off of me!" The side of her face was slightly charred.

Her flowers glowed white then as she held them up to face the sun. Vita started waving her hands left and right. "No, no, no! Wait, we can talk this out. I'm sorry. My name's Vita. Who're you?" _I'm no diplomat, but I know battles._

"I'm winning," the Roselia said coldly, holding her arms perpendicular to her body. Her flowers were radiating energy, and she let go of the biggest (and only) Solarbeam that Vita had ever saw.

The Vigoroth put her arms up to block once more, but this time less confidently. _Don't think I can handle a direct hit, but dodging is out of the question. And, it's coming right for me!_

Vita braced herself for the shock, but never felt it. Once she opened her eyes, she saw everything that she once did one yard to her left. On her head, she felt a small presence standing there. It was Delthea, who started to sweat and sigh in relief. "Made it."

The whole confrontation, the Natu had been watching from afar, too afraid to warp right back in the line of fire. But, as she saw her escort being bombarded with Magical Leaf, she felt moved. She was usually in the position of the victim; Team Chaos may or may not vouch for that. _She's getting hurt for me. And I just ran away. I have to help her. It wouldn't be right if I didn't. She didn't have to help me…_

Delthea had gotten a sudden surge of confidence and energy. Using all of her focus, she concentrated her psychic powers and used Teleport twice more in a row, once to get to her hero, and the other to get the both of them away from danger.

"Oh, thanks, Tuna!" Vita patted the Natu on the head before once again turning her attention to the Roselia.

"I tried. I hope I did good. You okay?"

"Defi-"

"Ahh!" the Roselia cried out. Vita snapped her head to face her temporarily forgotten opponent. Standing in place of the elegant, green, pleasant-smelling Pokemon was a charred, smoky, steaming, wobbly Roselia. "What?! Come on!"

"Oops," Chance whispered. Looking at him, it appeared that his paralysis had disappeared in the short time that Vita and Delthea bought for him. His eyes were darting around shiftily as he smiled without opening his beak.

The Roselia collapsed slowly, falling onto the ground on her back, right where she had previously been napping. The Torchic hobbled over and kicked her lightly to see if she was okay. She groaned from the pit of her stomach; she was good to go, give or take a few hours in direct sunlight. Chance laughed uncomfortably and walked on over to Vita.

"Did _you_ do that, Gobbles?" Vita was in awe. The Roselia was hit _hard_ with some fire-type move that wasn't the Vigoroth's Fire Punch.

"W-w-wait! You said battle, so I battled! She just attacked, so it was our turn, right? I just used Ember, and she fainted!" Chance desperately tried to defend himself of accusations that had yet to be made.

Instead of being scolded like he expected, however, he received something well better. "Nice job, man!" Vita commended him.

"That must have been a strong hit. She's completely out of it, I think."

"Really? Ha ha, well… Uh, she's gonna be alright, right?" _I don't want to tell Mom that I sent a stranger to the hospital._ Chance felt a drop of sweat sizzle and evaporate on his head.

"Well… I've _heard_ that grass-types have better recovery properties than others because of photosynthesis and all that stuff. I think. And, you didn't hit her _that_ hard. Don't you think, Vita?" Delthea tried to comfort the Torchic in front of her, who looked ready to burst into tears any moment.

"Nah, he got 'er good. Direct hit, super-effective, after I attacked her, right after she unleashed a tiring move…" Vita counted off on her claws.

"Please stop!" Chance whined.

"But, look, just relax. She _will_ be alright. Just give her time to heal up on her own. 'Sides, she might have friends that'll come by to help her out. Good for her, but not for us. They could fight us, too. Let's just leave her be. We can't spend this long regretting battle victories. Otherwise, we can _never_ be full-fledged explorers. She's still alive, y'know? She's fine. The same would go for our side if she knocked out one of us." Vita crossed her arms and nodded her head, seeming to know quite a lot of what she was talking about.

"Y-yeah, I guess. I think I'm just not used to this; that was my first real battle, and I _won_." Chance perked up. "It actually felt kinda good."

"Okay, hold it right there. We're not gonna go around knocking everyone we meet out because _you_ felt power-hungry. That's not a good code of conduct or whatever you call it. Let's only battle when we're in danger, 'kay? Battling's just as much a risk for us as it is for our opponents," Vita said, walking over to the fainted Roselia on all fours.

"Wow, that was really deep, Vita," Delthea said, feeling even better about her choice to jump in and aid the Vigoroth.

"I think she does that sometimes," Chance noted. _She's so cool!_

Vita hovered her face over the Roselia's, putting a hand over her flower hand. "Sorry, man."

"Ugh, I _just_ wanted to sleep!" she managed to mutter, eyes still closed.

"Now you get to, okay? One more time, I _said_ I was sorry! I didn't mean to sneeze on ya."

"I accept it. You won. Just leave me be."

"Okaaaay." With this, Vita rummaged through her bag and pulled out an oran berry, placing it down on the ground beside the Roselia. In the dirt near the berry, Vita dragged her claws to scrawl a few messy last words to her first opponent as part of an exploration team. It read, "For the last time, sorry!"

"That was sweet of you." Delthea hopped in delight.

"Well, I it _was_ pretty much my fault. If I hadn't sneezed on her, the battle wouldn't have happened, and she wouldn't have fainted like that."

"You can't help being allergic to pollen!" Chance said.

"Still. Let's just go. She'll be fine after some rest. I woulda treated any other adversary just the same. She deserves the oran berry, too. We'll probably find several more on the floor here if you're worried about supplies." Vita shrugged it off and took a step away.

"So righteous, Vita," Chance ogled. He started seeing his new friend in an even brighter light.

"Hah?" Vita said in a rough, unrefined voice. She turned around to face the two birds, picking her nose all the while with her sharp pinky claw. Her eyes were half-closed as well, and a dribble of drool fell from her lips. In a word, the sight was rather grotesque.

"Never mind!" Chance said with a warbling voice. _Oh, Vita. I need to forget that image right now_!

"Tee hee!" Delthea couldn't stop herself from giggling.

"Huh, didn't expect to get so emotionally attached to our first opponent. Let's just hurry so the sun doesn't go down by the time we finish the quest."

"Okaaay. But, hey, that was actually… kinda fun," Chance said.

"I think I would say the same, if only I hadn't done next to nothing there." Delthea pecked at her wing. _I can do more than use Teleport! I shul show that._

"Heck yeah, it was fun! And that was sweet teamwork, all of us, even if that battle wasn't the most epic thing ever," Vita exclaimed, giving a thumbs-up. Both birds hopped in joy at the praise. "Now, where's the stairs? I have a feeling it's that way."

"Uh, Vita? You're pointing straight at where the Roselia is." Chance wasn't sure if he should have felt good or bad about breaking news like that to his partner. _Well, someone has to do it._

"Oh. I knew that." It was a blatant lie, and all three of them knew it.

"I can sense Fay a little better here. I think. Let's keep going this way."

"It would be easier to go along with that if you didn't always say 'I think' after every sentence, Delthea," Chance said.

"Force of habit. Plus, at least I'm being honest."

"Can't fault that." Vita shrugged again.

They continued on through a small corridor formed by tall trees and thick bushes. From afar, a figure was trailing them, watching their every move, hunched over and rubbing his hands together. He had a full silhouette that was half round, half spiky, barely visible in the dim light cast past the trees. "Impressive battle there. Looks like I can count on them to make things easy for me. Like taking candy from a Togepi. Okay, kiddies, just lead the way." He laughed darkly.

Delthea looked up and back in the general direction of the stalker. "I sense someone. I think. Hmm…" _Well, as long as they don't hurt us, I guess it's nothing. But, I have a_ really _bad feeling about this. I sense… danger._

"Hey, guys, I have a good feeling. Let's go the other way!" Vita exclaimed suddenly.

"We just came from there, though!' the birds chorused.

"Here we go!" Vita immediately faced the opposite direction and started marching backwards. Without any other option than to continue on with their frail bodies alone, without Vita as a life preserver, the two reluctantly followed Team Endeavor's leader.

"Wait, did they just say something?" The figure tailing them stopped in his tracks, trying to comprehend what the Vigoroth just said. He had strained his ears trying to listen in on their conversation, and froze the instant he heard her say these words.

"Oh. Uh, hi, there," Vita greeted, waving in the stalker's face under the complete shade provided by the trees above them. The four of them were all lined up in a straight hallway made by the environment, with only one way out for each party. The mystery guy was clogging up the way. "It's really dark here. Hey, there _is_ someone in front of me, right? Uh-oh. A-achoo!"

The stalker started sweating and backed up slowly, pressing a hand to his mouth to stop himself from making any loud noises. Vita's sneeze had sprayed all over his face, and he puckered his mouth to prevent a scream from erupting. _Damn, kid, that's a lot of water! Gross. Might wanna get that checked out. But first, gotta get outta here. Then I can curse this girl out._

"Vita, what's the holdup?" Chance asked, clawing the grass beneath him. The unknown Pokemon took this opportunity to run, fast. Before Vita could even answer her friend or solidify her thought that there was someone standing in front of her, he was gone.

"Nothin'. Just thinkin'." She rubbed her nose and took one long blink to freshen her vision. _Must be seeing things._

"Any ideas, Delthea?" Chance asked with a sliver of hope that the Natu could help guide them. _She's dropping vague hints, but I think she can do better with a little push. Either way, I actually want to get this over with. I have a bad feeling right now, like there's something waiting for us_.

"Follow Vita?"

"Helpful." And without another peep from anyone else, the three continued on, led by the enthusiastic monkey. The rest of the floor was rather inactive. Several sleeping Pokemon were left alone as Team Endeavor passed them by, aiming to avoid unnecessary battles. No other hostile Pokemon roamed the floor. Eventually, the three of them found the stairwell and ascended it to the third floor of the dungeon.

What they didn't know was that that was not the original staircase of the floor they were on. That one had crumbled away when the unknown stalker climbed it up to avoid being caught by his prey. "They won't know what hit 'em."

As the three made the way up the stairs, Chance had to say," There sure aren't as many Pokemon out for a fight here, huh? Oops, hope I didn't jinx that."

Delthea answered him with more confidence than none at all. "It's not honey season, so there aren't that many Pokemon awake or energetic. I think. Fay told me that."

"Honey season?" Chance tilted his head.

"Guess that's the gimmick of this place, right?" Vita said, extending her arms to help her friends up the last step.

"Mm-hmm. Once honey season rolls around, this place is buzzing, literally! Fay and all her siblings work to make honey with her mom, and all the other Pokemon in this dungeon wake up from a weird hibernation state to try to get their hands on the honey. It usually becomes a fight, and everyone becomes hostile with everyone else. I think."

"Ooh, _so_ close. If only you dropped those two last words, Tuna." Vita winced at how close Delthea was to making a confident statement.

"Sorry." She smiled nonetheless. _They're not judging me on it, so I don't mind it. They actually sound like they wanna help me. I hope this can keep going._ _They're pretty funny, too!_

"Well, when's honey season?" Chance asked. He wanted to keep the conversation going. The silence of the forest and the occasional rustling of foliage was extremely irksome and eerie to him, so the voices of his two companions provided much comfort.

"Few months from now, I think. When it's over, though, Fay might bring us some honey to enjoy!"

"Us?" Vita asked.

"Y-yeah, us! As thanks and… as friends! Hopefully you two and Fay can get along as well! It's super fun being with you two!"

"Mmm, sweet honey. Can't wait." Vita started drooling.

"Heh, maybe we should rescue her first before thinking about the reward, Vita." Chance pouted slightly and got a pat on the head to reassure him.

"I know, I know. So sue me for being a dreamer. Let's keep goin'." Vita wiped her mouth with a hand and regretted it. The liquid was quite viscous, and refused to separate from her lips. _That's not good_. She stopped walking to try to sort out her situation. "Never mind, let's take a break for a minute. Catch our breath." _And fix this problem._

"Okay!" Delthea said with conviction. The first thing she had said with such authority in the whole time the rescue team knew her. _I'm tired. Using Teleport so much was_ too _much._

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Chance sighed and shook his legs out. He looked around to find a place to sit down. He had never gone so long without sitting in his life. A strong adjective to describe him would be sheltered, of his own choice, of course.

Meanwhile, Vita was swinging her arms in the air as as trail of saliva refused to separate and be forgotten about. _Oh, I messed up. And my allergies are still active. Damn it._ As a grasp at thin air, she charged Ice Punch in both of her hands. To her surprise and delight, the drool on her hands, trailing to her lips froze instantly, and shattered once she jerked her appendages. _Alright!_ Not the most graceful display of character for her, but, she was still charming nonetheless. But, neither of her companions were watching her awkward antic, so she was safe either way.

Chance finally set his eyes against a patch of earth in the shade. It was an elevated brown dirt mound that was visually appealing to him. It looked like it had scales in the shape of rounded triangles from the angle he was looking at it, and was just too unique compared to the square miles of land that the three had wasted hours wandering through.

He was originally drawn to it because he could have sworn that it moved for a second. But, upon closer inspection, it looked like a normal dirt mound. Or, maybe it was a rock. Or, something else. Chance skipped over to the cool, shaded spot and prepared to plant his bum on the soft sand under him. _Finally. I'm exhausted._

But, once he did sit, he had the shock of a lifetime. Instead of being soft dirt, it was sharp scales digging into him. Several keen plates, like daggers, poked at his underside. Luckily for him, the Torchic didn't put too much force into sitting down, so it just pricked the surface, nothing too serious, no blood drawn. Still, Chance jumped up and forwards a few feet and fell down to cower in fear. _What is it?_ "Waah!"

"Hey, who the fuck just sat on me?!" the "sand mound" shouted with a gruff, muffled voice.

"Chance, what's going on over there? Who shouted?" Delthea asked as she hopped beside the other bird. _I'm not crazy, right? I heard something._

"Everythin' aight?" Vita sauntered over to the two birds, satisfied with having just slayed her saliva. "What is that?"

"It's not dirt, and it's not a rock!" Chance shouted. His legs clacked together, unable to stop shaking. Whatever just happened to him, it put him on edge.

Then, before the three, the brown mass started to move. It rose from the ground, trails of specks of dust falling off it stood up. It was a Pokemon, actually. It, he, had a yellow body, standing on two feet with sharpened claws on his feet and hands. Rows of brown quills lined his back as a layer of protection, like an armadillo. His eyes were narrowed, and a vein looked like it was popping out on his forehead. He looked to be much older than the three. One of his hands was tapping a group of his quills, where Chance had sat down on. "Who the hell sat on me?! I was sleepin'! Wait, shit; I was sleepin'!"

The three were slack-jawed at the angry, sailor-mouthed Sandslash standing in front of them. Chance and Delthea were well more nervous than Vita, since the stranger was way taller and bigger than they were. The Natu pecked at the Torchic's back to get him to step up. "Good luck!" she whispered.

"For what?" he whispered back.

"Just apologize to him. It was you, wasn't it?" Vita tried to match their volume, but failed. She might as well have been speaking normally. _Chance was the only one standing here first_.

"I, uh, okay. You're not wrong." Chance took a deep breath and stood taller. Then, he stepped forward once. "Um, sir? I'm sorry, but I… Uh, sir?"

The Sandslash was panicking. His eyes darted between the three in front of him and he started sweating. _Shit, I was waiting for them in such a good hiding spot, too. The hell'd they take so long to get here?! I fuckin' fell asleep waitin' for 'em to get here. And it had to be_ them _that found me? In such a ridiculous position?!_

"Sir, are you okay?" Delthea asked. _He's acting really weird. I think he is, at least._

"Hah? Hell d'ya want, kid?" the Sandslash asked, leering at the Natu.

"N-n-nothing! Hah!" Delthea slowly moved to hide behind Vita's leg.

"Why ya botherin' me for? Just go finish your job request and hurry up. Would ya?" He rubbed his hands together. _Hurry up so I can take the winnin's._ Then, he pulled out a white and brown stick from who knows where, with a leppa berry tied to the end, and put it in his mouth. He clashed two claws together, causing sparks, and setting one end of the stick on fire. He took a long drag on the cigarette, trying to act all cool. Hacking and wheezing after taking one inhale broke the cool image he was going for. "Ah, these things suck."

"What are you sayin'? How would _you_ know that?" Vita narrowed her eyes and pointed at the ground-type. She waved the smoke he blew in her face away.

"What? Oh, did I say somethin'?" The Sandslash ran his claw along his quills, emitting a deep, boingy noise. It was an obvious tell that he was hiding something.

Delthea just _knew_ that there was something familiar about the Sandslash in front of them. His presence, his energy. "Hey, you were following us!"

The Sandslash rigidly looked at her with a forced smile. "What? Might wanna watch whatcha say, kid. Didn't ya momma eva' tell ya to not tell lies 'bout people?"

Delthea narrowed her eyes and lifted her head up to look at him. "No, I'm _sure_ of it. I felt your presence on the last floor, and you just so happen to be here with us at the same time? We've been slogging through this forest. If you were just passing through, then you should have passed us a long time ago. You were waiting for us."

"You lyin', kid." He loomed over the Natu and gave her the stink-eye.

"Are you sure about this?" Chance asked, taking her place hiding behind Vita. "That's a big accusation to make."

The green bird stood her ground. "I'm sure of it. Natu and Xatu have strong psychic powers. We can see the future, past, and present, and I see danger coming from this guy. And I'm sure that he's following us." _I just have a feeling. But, I guess I really am just being paranoid. I hope no one figures out I'm bluffing._

"Psst, hey! Didn't you say that your psychic powers were lacki-" Chance tried to say.

"Shhh!" she whispered back. The ground-type was sweating bullets. His sweat droplets were actually that large. The cigarette in his mouth dropped to the dirt as he stroked his quills again. Stomping down just once wasn't enough to put the stick out; a few misses later, he was able to smother the thing. Very natural and smooth.

Vita walked up beside her with a sly smile. "Okay, then, I believe you. This guy's being pretty rude and sweaty for an innocent dude. That's for sure."

"Uh, well, I won't disagree with that." Chance took his place next to Vita.

"Wha? Why you little"— his claws glowed white and he jumped into the air, looking at the unexpecting Delthea—"Take this!"

He fell to the ground claws-first, aiming at Delthea. He crashed down, dust and dead grass flying up into the air from the impact. Once it all settled, he tried pulling his arm back to his body, but found that he couldn't. Looking down, his claw was wedged tightly into the ground, not having hit its mark of the small Natu.

Delthea had seen him lunge at her, and focused all her energy to use Teleport once more. She made it out safely, landing right behind Vita. Her escape route was reliant on the fact that the Sandslash was so large, slow, and not aerodynamic. He hurtled at her at a slow, constant speed that allowed her to get out with time to spare. "Hey!"

"Grr, you're gonna pay when I get outta here, kiddies!" he growled, yanking his arm. It would have been intimidating and menacing, had his arm not have stayed in the ground. He was unable to remove it from the earth. Hard bedrock hidden under a thin layer of dirt where he landed the hit was penetrated and broken at the contact. With that, it closed up around his claw and refused to let go, utterly stuck. "I said… H-hey, come on. The hell? Lemme go!" he whined in a high voice.

"That's just sad," Vita said, taking pity on the guy. The instant he realized that he was stuck, he started moaning like a kid who wanted his mom to not give him chores to do.

The Sandslash cleared his throat before speaking again. "I mean, uh, hey, you"—he pointed at Vita—"Ta-tas, right? Give a brother a hand?"

Vita got instantly ticked off. "What kind of dumb name would that be?!" A bit ironic given the nicknames she had for her friends.

"Please?" He fluttered his eyes opened and closed, holding his free claw to his chin. A blush dusted his cheeks, though it was hard to tell whether it was intentional to make himself look pitiable or unintentional out of sheer embarrassment. He would have made for a beautiful maiden had he not been a jerk just previously. And if he was female. And if he stopped swearing so much. " _Pwetty pwease_?"

"Where's your dignity?" Chance exclaimed, confused as whether to laugh or cringe. "How old are you, even?!"

"Old enough to be your dad, so respect me!" His ugly personality showed again. "Yeah!"

"Should we just leave him?" Delthea asked.

"Probably." Vita didn't even try to be discreet about saying that.

"Heeey! I said, 'please,' Ta-tas! Annie! Dumbalina!" he shouted desperately. _My fuckin' arm won't give!_

"Annie?" Chance blinked twice. _That's not even from a full syllable of my name!_

"Dumbalina?" Delthea opened her beak slightly. Out of shock or unamusement, either would do. _He gets Annie? That's a stretch; at least make ours equally bad!_

"So he _was_ stalking us," Vita simply said. _How else would he know our names so badly?_ The Sandslash refused to look her in the eyes after she said this. "You're not even gonna try to hide it?"

"Uh… Help?" He tried again. The trio looked at him with blank stares. _Well, that was Plan A. Time for Plan B._ "Fine, you asked for it!"

In an instant, his spines and claws started glowing white as he did a little ditty, using Swords Dance. Even if he wasn't dancing with one hand stuck in the ground, he would have looked ridiculous.

"Oh, I get it!" Vita said, having a eureka moment.

"What? He's, uh, charging up right now," Chance said, unable to turn away from the ungraceful, yet somewhat hypnotic flailing of the Sandslash.

"He's an outlaw! He was probably gonna try to steal our reward by turning in the quest as his!" She dropped a fist into the palm of a paw.

He stopped dancing for a second to groaned gutteraly, uncomfortable for both parties. "Nooooo...?" The dance was resumed once Vita shot him a look.

"What do we do?" Delthea asked, hopping away from the stalker.

"Who knows how strong his next attack'll be. He was able to break through rock without buffing himself!" Chance pointed out.

Vita caught their attention by clapping her hands together. In the background, the Sandslash was still dancing. In all seriousness, she said, "Okay, guys, I'm gonna tell you something that you oughta remember if you wanna make it in situations like this. This is the ultimate strategy, my secret technique!"

The two birds leaned in close and nodded their heads intently. "Uh-huh?" The Sandslash had stopped dancing and started charging a white sphere of energy in front of him, most likely Swift.

"Run away!" Without even giving her friends a second to process the information, Vita palmed both birds on the head, grabbing them securely, and just gunned it with all she could. At the highest velocity she could muster, she just ran, letting her arms fall behind so that she shook the two birds the least that she could.

This broke the Sandslash's focus, causing him to stop charging his move. Several stray stars shot out and flew every which way but at his intended targets. "The hell do _you_ think you're goin'?!"

"See ya, Asslass!" Vita shouted over her shoulder and kept running, feeling proud in the nickname she had for him. "Whew. I doubt he'll catch up even _if_ he gets himself free! Hah!"

She just kept running, legs not failing her, until she found the stairs. She passed by many sleeping Pokemon, and even a few hostile ones along the way, but refused to stop running. _If I do stop, I'll probably be too exhausted to keep going. I'll stop after we get to the next floor._ A few long-distance attacks were sent her way, but missed her. She was surprisingly fast, nimble, and agile as she dashed forwards with reckless abandon with little to no grace at all.

"Why am I already used to this? This is only the second time she's done this to me!" Chance shouted out to no one in particular.

"You've done this before?" Delthea shouted back as she tried not to groan. "I feel… sick. That's a fact."

Once Vita managed to find the stairs and climb them, she collapsed after climbing up the last one. On her stomach with her face to the ground, she said, "Ugh, I'm not doing that again."

"No one told you to," Chance replied as he shakily stood up.

"Yeah." Delthea had to agree. Her head was spinning and her red top feather flopped over her face. Blinking one long time, she steadied herself.

"Sorry," Vita simply said, sitting up. "At least we lost him."

"I guess we can see it that way. But, that was a little weird, no?" Chance tilted his head. "Why'd he use Swords Dance when he tried to attack us using Swift?"

"Maybe he had no other moves that could reach?" Delthea suggested.

"Maybe he was too dumb?" Vita offered.

"Whatever the reason, please just don't do that again, Vita. I think I would have rather battled him than run away like that." Chance was leaning back attacked forth, legs like jelly after dangling them for so long in the air.

"Alright. You got it. Who knows, maybe we'll meet him again and you'll get that battle."

"Please don't joke about that."

Meanwhile, the Sandslash was lying on his back, bitterly biting into an apple he found on the the second floor. His hand was free; after he used Swords Dance, he gathered enough strength to yank it out of the bedrock. "'Asslass'? Okay, Ta-tas, you're askin' for war. Ach!" He bit into the apple and dropped it just as fast. "Owie, my tooth! Stupid apple!" How mature.

He kicked the fruit, which hit a nearby tree and ricocheted back at him. It hit him on his back, landing on a quill and lodging itself there. "Hey!" He tried reaching for it, but failed to reach it. His arms were too short. The first thing that he came up with to mitigate the problem was to rub his back against a tree. He executed it, and the apple did fall off, but not before mashing into a sticky mess and soaking the rest of his quills with apple juice and pulp. "No fair! Fuck, damn it!"

"Argh! This wasn't what I expected my first quest to be like!" Vita exclaimed, picking up an apple on the floor a few yards away. It got rubbed on her fur to wipe the grime away. She went in for a bite before realizing her company. "Want some?"

"It was on the floor!" Chance finally caught his breath.

"So, no?"

He looked at her incredulously. "The _floor_."

"Yes, please," Delthea said. Vita nodded her head and focused her hand and on the apple. In one swift movement, she cut the fruit into thirds with Slash, throwing one slice into her own mouth and holding the other two with one in each hand. "Thank you," she meekly said and started picking at the fruit.

"Gobbles?" Her mouth was still full as she said this.

"What do I have to lose?" He gave in easily. _That was the more excitement that I have experienced in all my life before that put together!_ Her other arm extended down to let him dine on the apple.

"Can we share, Delthea?" a yellow bee with three hexagonal faces fluttered over and asked, nudging the Natu over a bit. A red dot on the forehead of the Combee's bottom face marked her as female.

"Hmm? Sure, Fay." Delthea took one last peck before scooting over.

"Thank you!" she said as she bit into the slice with her bottom mouth.

Chance stopped pecking at his slice to look up at the stranger. " _You're_ Fay?"

"Mm-hmm!" One last bite was taken, effectively removing one half of the slice that was Delthea's. "Here you go."

"Fay?" Vita finally swallowed her piece.

"Yeah?" the Combee sang, hovering in place.

"Fay!" Delthea hopped. "We found you!"

"Found me?" She was lost as to what her friend meant by that.

"Didn't you get chased by Team Chaos out of Treasure Town?" Chance asked, walking up to the bee.

"Huh? Oh, that! Yeah, uh, kinda."

"Kinda?" Vita asked. She pulled out the job request for she got from Delthea earlier to reread it.

"You were shouting something I didn't understand, I think, and wouldn't come back!" Delthea pointed out. _At least, I think that's what happened_.

"Well… that's what happened at first, but when they stopped chasing me, I realized that my mom said to come back to help pollinate some flowers since the honey supply was running low this morning. I was already flying away so fast, so I didn't want to slow down. Sorry if I didn't tell you, Delthea!" Fay smiled and dipped her head. "But, if you want, I can make it up to you! Here!" She pulled a small cup made out of the dried outer shell of a green cactus out of nowhere, that was filled with thick, yellow, glistening liquid.

"Yay!" Delthea quietly celebrated. _Cactus_ and _honey!_

"So… Mission clear?" Vita asked, putting the job request form away. _That was easier than I thought. Only engaged in one real battle, too_. _Oh, well. Found her._

"Oh, yeah! Mission clear! I know!" Delthea exclaimed, dipping the tip of her beak into the honey. "Guys, want some?"

"Really?" Vita felt like she was salivating again.

"Maybe later!" Chance said. But, he _was_ eyeing the honey. "I feel paranoid. And, who knows, that Sandslash could still be following us right now!"

"Yeah, you're right. But, still, you saw the same thing I saw, right? I think that guy's actually harmless. Jerk-y and rude, but harmless." Vita stretched her arms behind her head. "Okay, we reunited these two friends and completed the job request. Mission accomplished! Everyone ready to leave here?"

"Yes!" Chance lingered on the "s" for a few seconds.

"Mm-hmm!" Delthea pushed the cup of honey towards Vita for safe keeping. The Vigoroth slid it into the wonder bag to prevent herself from eating it all herself, which she was very much tempted to do.

"Yeah. There's a show at Spinda's Cafe in a while, right?!" Fay flew up into the air a few feet. Her Natu friend nodded.

"Alright, here we go. Psyche!" Vita pulled out Team Endeavor's badge and said the Alakazam's name with gusto. It glowed blue for a second before the Pokemon appeared before them with his legs crossed, floating in mid-air.

"It seems you have completed your mission. I will transfer your clients back to the guild. Will you like to return with them, or continue exploring?" he said in a calm, deep voice.

The two members of Team Endeavor looked at each the and nodded. "Bring us back, if you will, Fancyman."

"Fancy… man?" he asked. The sound of tapping on metal spoons and a twitching eye of his made it obvious that he was bothered by the nickname. The spoon in his right hand was bending, and not only from his psychic powers.

"Well?" Vita was oblivious to his annoyance.

He sighed and lifted his hands, casting blue psychic energy over all five of them. Then, with no warning, they were back in front of Wigglytuff's Guild, standing next to a well. "Here you are. Until next time," he said through grit teeth. _Hopefully that Gardevoir recruit will come soon and take this job away from me._

"Thank you, Fancyman!" Vita shouted as he teleported away. His growl of annoyance fell on deaf ears.

"Let's go inside so we can reward you!" Fay said, nudging Delthea in the side.

"Okay, then! Lead the way!" Chance said with a smile. _This is kinda cool! We did a good deed, I met two kind Pokemon, I won a battle, my first battle, and we even get rewarded for it?! Awesome!_

The four made their way back inside the guild to the second below ground floor. There, a crowd of Pokemon was gathered in front of the job bulletin board. The center of the locus was a group of three Pokemon, who Vita was not pleased to see. Team Maelstrom was there, receiving an abundance of praise and congratulations for completing their quests.

"Now, now, no need to push. I know, we did an amazing job," Archer said with a wink. The Rowlet did a flip in the air, causing several Pokemon in the crowd to squeal.

"Archer, a little modesty," Kunai said quietly, his eyes closed. The Froakie shot a small Water Shuriken at his partner, causing the bird to shiver in shock. _Always so loud and stunted._

"Ow, who did that?!" He landed ungracefully, a little slow to the catch. _Water? Who would dampen my day?_

"Alright, people, that's all the business we have here. Make way." Ace motioned with his stubby orange arms for the crowd gathered around them to part. His blazing tail wagged behind him as the Charmander made his way through the wall of Pokemon. _Why must they crowd like this? There's fame, then there's obsession._

"Tch, pushovers," Vita scoffed at the gawking crowd. "What's so great about them?"

"Shh, Vita, let's _not_ have a repeat of this morning!" Chance reminded her.

"What happened this morning?" Fay had to ask. Her friend only gave a face that told her that she shouldn't want to know, from her spot hiding behind Vita. _Guess it was either nothing or embarrassing._

"I dunno. Maybe I'm bein' crazy, but I'm sure they're trouble," Vita said, crossing her arms as she watched the crowd disperse. _No one is that popular without their share of secrets… right? Well, at least for them. Especially for how they acted this morning. But, at least I don't think they're danger. Just too cocky for their own good. Well, I'm gonna make sure I find it out, so watch out, Team Maelstrom._

* * *

Author's note: Well, this came out later than I wanted it to. This chapter was kind of like getting through the whole "I can't believe someone actually killed someone" phase of _Danganronpa_ , getting acclimated to dungeons. Hopefully it wasn't too boring or narrow.

I just love the slow character that can be deep and philosophical sometimes, so that's what I was aiming for with Vita. Just wanted to say that.

Anyway, something important to know is that updates for this story will be slow. I'm going to try to finish my other story first before dedicating more time to this one. So for those of you that actually read this, I hope you can understand and wait. Thank you for reading, anyway!

Thank you to Mythgirl for reviewing, as well as everyone else who has read this. It means a lot!


	4. The more you Know

"What is this?" Chance exclaimed, looking incredulously at a small sack of poké placed in front of him. Previously filled to the brim with currency, it was presently near empty. "There's, uh… two, three… twenty-five poké in here total! What can anyone even get with that?"

Currently, Chance and Vita were standing a distance from the job request bulletin board. Between them and it were Delthea and Vita, and behind them (rather, in front since Chance turned around) was Tenor giving them the stink-eye. "The guild _typically_ takes away _ninety_ percent of reward money from our apprentices to go to bettering us all collectively-"

" _Ninety_?" Chance screeched, causing Vita to press her paws against her ears.

"Chance, you gotta, uh, tone it down, man."

"Oops, sorry." He shamefully looked at his feet.

Tenor cleared his throat for an unnecessarily long amount of time. "Ahem, as I was saying"-he leered at Chance-" _ninety_ is the norm, but _some_ pokémon thought it to be fun to break our sentry grate. So, until you two, Team Endeavor, compensate our loss, we will sanction ninety- _five_ percent of your reward money."

 _What a penny pincher. It was an accident!_ Chance thought. _We can get a piece of candy with this reward money, but what else?_ "Okay…"

"Let's take what we can get. I'm pretty sure he'll do something we'll all regret if we fight him right now," Vita whisper-shouted.

"Umm, sorry I didn't have any more money. That was all I had. Promise," Delthea said.

"And I only had honey on me," Fay sang.

Tenor sighed and twitched his tail. "This is why it is important to note all aspects of the jobs you take. Some are certainly more rewarding than others."

"Whatever." Vita had no problem waving it off. "We helped these two. I feel good."

"Exactly. Well put, Vita," Tenor said. _Hm, perhaps this girl can be civil._ "That will be all. Feel free to explore some more, but dinner will be served at ten sharp. If you miss it, you miss it. After supper, find me and I'll guide you to your sleeping quarters."

"Our sleeping quarters?" Chance echoed.

"Mm, yes, all apprentices must be based here at the guild until they graduate. Until then." And Tenor was gone, hopping off to the guildmaster's office.

"Cool, cool," Vita said. She turned around to smile at their two clients. Their _first_ clients. "Well, then, I guess that's it."

"That's it?" Chance asked.

"Job's done, we got the"-she pinched the sack of money into the air and dropped it, then cleared her throat-"reward, and there's nothing else to do. So, yeah." She smiled brightly at the three of them.

"Well…" Delthea trailed off. _But, I don't think I want to walk away from this_. "Uh, guys?"

"Yeees?" Vita and Chance said simultaneously.

"Do you, heh, heh…" Delthea's large eyes darted back and forth. The feather atop her head ticked up and down. "I mean, if it wouldn't be a bother…"

"Say it! Just say it now!" Vita said in a goofy voice, prompting everyone else to laugh and relax further. She smiled satisfactorily.

"It's just that… Could I, _I_ join you guys?"

Both members of Team Endeavor looked slack-jawed at the natu, slowly processing what she had requested. _Join us? Us? Wasn't back there in Honey Forest kind of a mess?_ Chance thought.

"Really, Tuna?" Vita had eyes of wonder. _Alright! Things are coming together!_

"Tuna?" Fay chuckled at her friend's nickname.

"Shh, shh, Hon-hon." Vita pat Fay gently, making sure she wouldn't swat her out of the air by accident.

"Hon… hon?" All of Fay's faces frowned. "Heeey!"

"Uh, Vita?" Delthea redirected her attention. _Please don't stop calling her that, hee hee!_ "So, what do you think?"

Vita twitched her nose. "What do _I_ think? What do _you_ think?"

"Come again?" Delthea wasn't sure if Vita was being serious or not. _Is she teasing me since I say that too much?_ "Well… I think yes?"

Vita loomed over Delthea and held a straight face. Looking at her from the angle that the natu was, Vita was menacing. Her nose was flared out, eyes narrowed, and paws on either side of Delthea. Breaking the act, she instantaneously smiled and pet her, saying, "Yup."

Melting immediately in relief, Delthea hopped. "Alright!"

"You think?" Chance tried to finish her sentence.

"No. Alright! Yaaay!" Delthea cheered. That was the happiest she had been that day by a long shot. _This is going to be fun. I can feel it. I… think. Hmm…_

"Alright!" Vita held a paw up perpendicular to the floor, which Delthea hopped up to meet and slap with the feather on her head. "We're goin' places."

"That was easy. Are we missing something? Are there strings attached to new members? Paperwork...?" Chance's scepticism was sky high on how swimmingly the day had went for him. _I definitely don't mind Delthea. But, I_ do _mind everything falling into place like it has been today. Life is usually sucky._

"Uh… I think we talk to someone or somethin' like that. Is there an assembly stand thing 'round here?" Vita looked back and forth until her eyes settled on a wooden stand with a chimecho manning it. Pointing at it as if she discovered the meaning of life, she said, "Right there!"

"Chiiiime, chiiime~" the chimecho sang in soprano monotone as she waved her tail like a flag. _Just a few more hours… Please hurry up…_

The four approached the stand and pokémon with a positive attitude. Vita spoke up, being the only one who was visible past the structure without having to lean over. "Hello."

"Hi, welcome to Chimecho Assembly. I'm Altano, the head honcho of this here stand. Chiiime~" Her voice was soothing and high. The only distracting aspect of her was her unblinking, blank, thousand-yard stare straight ahead.

"Um, we're Team-" Chance started. Vita picked him up by the head so he could look Altano in the eyes.

"Endeavor," Altano finished for him. "Yes, I know."

"How?" Vita asked while scratching her back.

"I just do. Chiiime~" It was almost disturbing how calm she was. _Do these kids seriously think word doesn't go around of a new team around here? The guild is not that big. Well, might as well lead them on that I'm all-knowing. See how dumb they can be._

"Okay, then, we're here to-" Delthea tried to say.

"Register a new member. You, Delthea. Chiiime~" _Take the hint._

"Yes…" The natu felt uncomfortable with the character in front of her. _Is it because she's a psychic-type? Could I do that?_

"It's done. Chiiime~" Her voice was still emotionless. _Leave now, kids._

"Th-that's it?" Chance tilted his head and kicked his feet in the air, still being lifted by Vita.

"Yes. Off you go. Chiiime~"

"Ooookay, then. Let's head to Treasure Town." Vita did an immediate pivot, shivering at the odd aura of the psychic-type.

Fay vibrated in the air, a buzz being emitted from her. _Delthea, hold on!_ "Hey, Altano, I wanna-"

"Join too, you say? Already done. Bye, chiiime!" _Stop talking already!_

"O-oh, right, uh, thanks…" Fay chuckled and tried to hide from Altano under the stand. _She's creeping me out._

"Really, Fay?" Delthea asked. _But, she never said anything about wanting to explore or anything like that before… What else don't I know about her?_

 _Jeez, these kids aren't going to leave, are they?_ Altano's right eye started twitching. _After dealing with these bothersome explorers that can't comprehend that I already know how to do my job, I have to make dinner. Then I'm off. So, leave. Now._

Fay flew up to match Vita's height, which just so happened to also match her ego. "Of course. Don't worry, I'll help you all. Leave everything to me, and I'll do it ten times better than you guys could alone!" Her Pinocchio nose grew.

"Heh, heh, suuure," Chance breathed out while leaning away from Fay. _I didn't expect her to be someone with these kinds of colors._

"As I said, it is done. _Chiiime_ ~" Altano said, her voice more strained than it had been previously. _You can take this outside, can't you? Blech, these kids..._

"I'm serious! I may be a combee, but I'm the strongest bug-type you'll _ever_ come across! I'm close to evolving, too. I can feel it." All of Fay's faces wore a smug smile. "Besides, I guess I'm already registered with you guys, so I'll be tagging along anyway."

Vita waved her arm in the air. "Hear hear!"

"No changing what's done," Chance said. _She seems nice enough._

"Alright!" Delthea said. _Yay, now I won't have to choose between hanging out with Fay or Vita and Chance._

"I told you guys. I'm a living-"

Altano started puckering her lips before Fay started, but couldn't hold it in any longer. _These little brats oughta listen to me when I talk! They're gonna get it. I warned them to get away already._ She finally snapped, exploded. "You dumb kids either leave or face my wrath. I've had enough of listening to you babble. Do I look like I want to? No! So shut it and leave!" By the time she finished, she was panting and sweating. The expression she wore was menacing, radiating an air of hostility and darkness. It was impressive that chimecho couldn't learn Glare or Scary Face.

"Yeesh!" Chance let out. _Looks like we angered the beast. So this is what she was hiding._

"Run?" Delthea said, hopping and readying herself to use Teleport.

"We'll see you two outside." Fay huddled close to Delthea and in a matter of seconds, the two were gone from the guild.

"So…" Vita tried to continue on.

"Wah, wah! Ah!" Altano started throwing a tantrum. Several other pokémon on the floor, who were not used to her behavior, looked to the source of discord. Her wailing was ear-piercing. _Get on with it. I'm making a fool of myself here._ "I'm gonna send you two-"

"Vita, why don't we leave?" Chance pecked down on one of Vita's claws and started pulling her away. Muffled, he said, "I think she'll cut it out if we do."

One the two reached the halfway point between Chimecho Assembly and the exit ladders, Altano cleared her throat and returned to humming softly. "Chiime, chiiime~" _About time. Phew, at least that wasted a few minutes. I'm hungry._

Vita turned around before leaving and shouted, "Bye, Pitchy. See you soon."

"Bye bye. Chiiime~" She didn't even turn around to look at Vita. _Time to relax. Wait, "Pitchy"?_

"Again, Altano?" Rory asked as he walked past her booth back to the sentry tunnel. "Even I'm not that loud most of the time."

"Whatever. Chiime~"

"I like her." Vita picked up Chance and started to exit the guild. _At least she was honest at the end._

"Sure," Chance said. _She means it? Sheesh, that chimecho needs an attitude check._ "I would have called her 'Diva' after the way she reacted to us just standing in front of her."

"Eh, whatcha gonna do? We'll be seeing her often now, so..."

Chance shuddered at the thought of another encounter with Altano and her apparent picky temper. "Right…"

* * *

Treasure Town was as lively as Chance always recalled it to be at the usual spots, and there only. The Kecleon Bros were calling out bids and offers for slick deals, rhythmic grunts and the beating of a drum emanated from Marowak Dojo, and the chatter of lively pokémon filled the air. The hub was comforting for the most part, and Chance, Delthea, and Fay couldn't help but relax at the sight of no Team Chaos, who typically frequented squatting behind Marowak Dojo and shooting dirty looks at those smaller than them. This was ignoring the fact that at locations other than main shops, the atmosphere was dead, which bothered the four greatly.

Despite the warmth of Treasure Town and the familiarity of it, something was definitely off and rather eerie. As Vita had noted earlier that day, there was a large concentration of ghost-type pokémon gathered about, even more so than the last time they were there. The sun had already set, the time of year being one with short days, the dark sky making the town feel even more ominous. Dusk fell on all of them.

A flock of sensu-style oricorio were doing a synchronized dance in the air in the center of Treasure Town, elegance oozing from each flick of their fan-like wings, practically ethereal. A murder of murkrow were watching and hooting up a storm of obvious infatuation for the performing birds. The oricorio and their dance were illuminated from the left and right by two chandelure. The purple glow of their flames complimented and furthered the allure of the birds. Few pokémon not ghost- or dark-type stuck around to admire the show, instead either staying close to the established stalls or hurrying home.

"Wow, is this place a ghost town or what, right? Probably, heh," Delthea said, getting softer when she realized that her pun wasn't panning out quite like she imagined it. The four of Team Endeavor were walking down a well lit road that meandered around the oricorio to Chance's place as their first destination.

"Yeah, it's been like this for a while. That's why I've been going home early lately. But, I guess that's gonna change starting tonight, huh?" Chance said while staring at the oricorio with wonder. _They're amazing. I wish I could do that._

"Well, they're not bothering us, so, whatever." Fay flew on with her eyes closed, not a care in the world.

"Why did you say they're here again?" Vita asked.

"Something about a fire from the place they're from. Dread Crypt is the name I've heard thrown around by my parents," Chance said.

"'Crypt'? Like a cemetery?" Fay slowed down until she was only hovering in place. Vita paid her stop no mind and kept walking, unintentionally pushing the bee further ahead with her stomach.

"Well, they're ghost-types, aren't they? They are, right?" Delthea started to doubt common knowledge.

"Yeah, and yeah. I heard that it's a cemetery within a dark forest. Apparently only ghost-types live there, with some dark and poison ones even," Chance said matter-of-factly.

"Why do you know this?" Fay's flying trajectory was getting lower the farther they continued moving.

"That's kinda boring," Vita noted. _Let me guess: it's super spooky, too_

"Let's just keep going." Chance shuddered, feeling like there was a presence hovering over his shoulder. They continued on, leaving the memorizing oricorio behind.

At the branching path off the main road of Treasure Town, Chance's house peeked out in the distance. Giddiness rose in him with the prospect of going home after a good day of hard work. "You guys go on. I'll talk to my parents and catch up with you here in and few!" Then, he dashed forwards with not a care in the world.

"You sure?" Vita shouted at the top of her lungs. Several pokémon looked her way with annoyance marking their faces. She had absolutely no filter and gauge of her mouth. Her two friends tried to hide themselves from the second-hand embarrassment.

When Chance didn't look back, the three looked at each other and shrugged (at least, Vita did. Delthea and Fay could only tilt themselves to get the motion across). "What now?" Vita had to ask.

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna swing by Xatu's Appraisal." Delthea jutted her beak towards a green tent with a xatu design, said pokémon manning it. She hopped along, and with nothing else to do, Fay and Vita followed.

The xatu stood tall with his eyes staring off into the distance and wings wrapped around his body. Without turning to the newcomers, he said, "Hello again, Delthea."

"Hi, Yasuhiro. See anything good?" Delthea teleported to the tabletop in front of him.

"I could ask you the same thing." His words caused the natu to sink down and shut up.

Vita nudged Fay from a few feet away. "Psst, what's with them?"

"Her and Yasuhiro? They're friends. Buuut, only because Delthea keeps asking him questions."

"On what?"

"Being a Xatu, being a natu, being a psychic-type, yadda yadda." One of Fay's top faces had a ticked-off expression, the other wore a concerned frown, and her main one held a soft smile.

"Why?"

"You'll see soon enough if you haven't. Ever notice her verbal quirks?"

"Always saying 'I think' and 'probably' and 'maybe'?"

"Stuff like that."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Vita scratched her head and twisted her face. _Things got confusing quick_.

"I don't think I should say anything else. But, she means well, and Yasuhiro gives her support. But, knowing her, she's probably also gonna reach out to that Altano lady." Fay moved forwards to hover next to Delthea, leaving a stumped Vita behind.

She was snapped out of her stupor once Yasuhiro lifted a wing at her. "Did I not say I saw things looking up for you today?"

"Well, yeah, but… Yeah!" Delthea flapped her tiny wings and hopped. _I'll give him that._ "It was _after_ encountering Team Chaos again, though."

"All's well that ends well, no? However, I do believe I saw _two_ newcomers in your life for today." _I'm never wrong about this. Did something else happen?_

"Chance went back to talk to his parents," Vita said as she sauntered over to the flying-types.

"Ah. So I was correct."

"The all-seeing type, huh?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Isn't this the place where explorers get treasure chests open?" Vita eyed several gaudy, empty, colorful boxes behind Yasuhiro. Even more chests were very likely to have been hiding further in the stand, covered by the material of the tent and the darkness of the setting sky.

"That is the primary focus of my business, yes. But, I do divulge predictions and fortunes to those who properly request it." Yasuhiro rummaged around the space in front of him that was obscured by a wooden facade, then pulled pulled out a small, archetype brown and gold treasure chest. "Would you like to see?"

Vita's practically permanent smile arched further, and her eyes were full of wonder. "Yes, please, Mr. Future!" Vita leaned in close with her paws put on the table on either side of the chest, almost salivating. Then, it hit her. She said, "We don't got money."

Yasuhiro visibly faltered as he had previously held his wings open on either side of the chest, above Vita's arms, with his eyes closed, then presently tensed his wings and stepped back. "Er, well…"

"No, we have 25 poké." Fay rammed herself softly into the bag around Vita. "Or can you take I.O.U.s?"

"But, can we just watch you for free? We won't take what's in there," Delthea said with pleading eyes, still feeling bad about ultimately only paying Vita and Chance with a measly 25 poké. _Please, Yasuhiro? Wait... why didn't Vita call him "Tuxa" if she calls me "Tuna"? That's not fair! Call me… never mind._

"I was going to do so, so fret not, children." He resumed his position, and, before he could be interrupted again, started glowing a bright blue. The light spread to the small chest, falling into the keyhole and forming a key made purely out of energy. With a mighty caw, the key turned to the left and the energy encompassing the rest of the trunk caused the top half to flip open. Inside lay a pink handkerchief tied with a knot. "And here we have a Special Band."

"Sweet," Vita said, not moving from her place. _And free. You're alright, sir._

"That's it? Not some gem or somethi- ow!" Delthea nipped at Fay, effectively cutting her off. _What, if we're just gonna look, might as well have been something pretty, not something that I'm seeing right now at Kecleon Market!_ Fay peered around Xatu Appraisal to see a shelf behind the Kecleon brothers full of pink bands.

"That was really cool! Hey, Yasuhiro?" Delthea waited for him to shove the empty casket into the pile of other chests and give her undivided attention. "Do you think that maybe one day _I_ could possibly do that?"

Yasuhiro gave her a warm smile, or what best resembled one given that he had a beak, and pat her head. "You'll do great things one day. Just be patient."

"Did you have a vision?"

"I don't need one to know that."

"R-right." Delthea turned around to hop to the edge of the table and look at the ground. _He's just saying that to make me feel better, isn't he? If it's not one of his predictions, it's not guaranteed to come true. He's lying_.

"They've got a nice dynamic goin' on, huh?" Vita whispered to Fay.

Fay smiled and said, "Yeah, kinda like brother and sister. She _really_ looks up to him. To a lot of psychic-types, actually."

"If you're gonna drop hints about what I didn't get earlier, just tell me," Vita whined. Impatience was not a virtue.

"Nuh-uh," Fay sang. _Maybe it would be better if she didn't know. She doesn't seem that delicate or bright, no offence. But, it's pretty darn obvious when you think about it._

Delthea was about to teleport to the ground when Yasuhiro stopped her. "Hold, Delthea. Let me put this on you."

"What?" Before she knew it, he used Psychic to tie the Special Band around her such that the knot went below her beak and the material covered most of her backside, below her top feather. "Why? We can't afford it."

"We didn't even pay for it," Fay deadpanned. "Would have been, what, 150 poké for the appraisal?"

"And even more from the Kecleon Market. Take it as a gift. You know what a Special Band does for one who wears it, right?" Yasuhiro returned to the stance they found him in.

"Increases your special attacks in dungeons because of… resonating energy, I think?" Delthea thought it was a stretch to say that. She wasn't completely wrong, though.

"Don't you think it'll be of any help to you? Just a small boost to your abilities. Think of it as a jump start. I know you can do it." He pet Delthea for good measure.

"I guess, if you really mean it." She was already comfortable in the gentle wrap the fabric had around her. _Please don't take it. This feels like a dream!_

"Off you go. I can tell you that tonight will be well… that is, ignoring one rather persistent nuisance your way come." Yasuhiro turned around and felt satisfaction wash over him. _Oh, Delthea. Please keep your happiness and confidence up._ "And… sickly aches?" _How does that fit in?_

"Right." Delthea reveled in her gift until Fay nudged her from behind. "Oh, what time is it?"

"To your left," Yasuhiro said without turning around. The three girls looked in the direction to see a sundial barely lit up by the dying light of the nearly completely set sun.

"7:30? Let's go, _Tuna_ ," Fay said, purposely using Vita's nickname for the natu.

"Right, _Hon-hon._ " _Two can play it._ Without any more warnings, Delthea teleported away while Fay shot straight forward, flying the fastest she could. Vita was left behind.

"So, Mr. Future…"

"Are you referring to me?" He turned around to face Vita with a look of concern for her well being. _I believe she knows my name._

"Yeah, you, Yasuhiro or whatever. That was really cool of you to do that for Tu"-she stopped herself from using her nicknames for him-"Delthea. I don't even think she said 'I think' the whole time."

"Yes, she does have that issue."

"Yeah," Vita said awkwardly. _It somehow feels weird to talk to him normally. Big words, big breaths, Vita._ "Are you sure about the free of charge thing? We can pay you in… after five more missions, give or take."

"Missions?" _And "we"? She's including Delthea and Fay? I have not seen this clearly into this outcome. Is she, no, are they perhaps an exploration team? With those two?_

"Yeah, they, me, and this cool torchic named Chance make up Team Endeavor!" she proudly stated. When he didn't react, she further elaborated. _Shouldn't he know this?_ "It happened like an hour ago."

"Ah, I see." Things started to click for him. _Did Delthea act spontaneously like I believe she did? Good on her, then._ "Then the Special Band should be even more helpful to her. But, please, do not worry about payment. For Delthea, I waive the fee this once."

"Jonathan and Joseph sell those things for around 3,000 poké. They tried to swindle me earlier for one."

He couldn't help but let out a breathy, short-lived chuckle. _She seems to have good intentions._ "If I may, I will let you in on a secret. Just don't tell her or her combee friend."

"Yeah?"

Taking one look into the vigoroth's eyes, he said, "That wasn't a Special Band."

"What?"

One of his eyes started to twitch. _Good intentions or not, ignorance is not excusable. How can I phrase this simply?_ "What was in the chest was placed by me. It was just a regular pink kerchief in the guise of a Special Band."

"That means…?" Vita, usually full of energy, started looking tired. Her eyes wandered and a yawn threatened to escape her. _Should I catch up with them now?_

"Oh, for the sake of - that was just a normal accessory. That was an act for the most part. A placebo." _I probably shouldn't introduce even more complicated words into this._ _For her sake and mine._ "It was only to lift her spirits and confi-"

"Oh, I get it!" Eureka. Vita pointed one claw up into the air and gave an open-mouthed smile. "So it was just a lie?"

Yasuhiro resisted the urge to teleport Vita far away from him with how difficult it was to converse with her. Unless something completely caught her attention, she was not going to dedicate too many brain cells to it. "More positively, it was, like I said, a placebo of sorts. If she believes she can do something, I'm sure she can follow through."

"Okay, then. I'll roll with it."

"Do you not hear me - oh." He had readied himself to counter her inability to comprehend more complicated matters in advance, so he was a bit taken back by her understanding. "That's good. Please, keep it that way."

Vita wouldn't admit to being bored so much as being distracted in the moment. _What are they up to now?_ "Welp, nice talk and all, Mr. Future, but I gotta go."

"Er, indeed," Yasuhiro said with a slightly pained expression. _Hopefully she won't walk away from the root of all of their problems._ "But, if I could offer you a vision?"

"Do I have to pay?" Her priorities were _straight_.

"N-no, just listen here. You, Delthea, Fay, that Chance boy, and even more"-he spread his wings for an effect-"you will make it out just fine. Your future is full of ups and downs, allies and foes, wellness and pain, pride and acceptance. Just believe in yourselves. That is all the information I can provide for you." The vagueness and cheesiness of it justified the price.

"Is that a good thing?" She scratched her ear and perked it when she heard the howling of what she assumed to be Mightyena.

"Yes. Find the rest out on your own." He turned around to sort the empty chests behind him after he saw her nod. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm closing up shop. I will not allow those delinquents to desecrate my business. Keep Delthea and all safe, and be well on your way back."

"Delinquents?" Now Vita was really invested. She had been before, but at the mention of danger, she really got excited.

"Those newcomers. They are danger."

"The pokémon from Dread Crypt?" she asked slowly.

"Yes."

"Have they hurt your business before?"

"No"

"Have they… hurt others' businesses before?"

"No." He was stoic and unmoving.

Vita almost fell back in shock. "Hah? Then how can you talk about them like that? A vision or whatever?"

"No, I don't need one to tell that they are trouble. Just listen to them polluting the air right now. Treasure Town is usually peaceful."

Vita took a sharp intake of air. "Ah, dude, that's kinda… egh." She ended with an uncomfortable, shaky sound with a lack of a better word to describe the way Yasuhiro saw the ghost-types. _What'd they do to you?_

"We will see. I wish the best to you." With that, he stepped back and used Light Screen to encase his stand, then teleported away with his wares.

"Yeesh, that went weird, fast." Vita walked away slowly with her claws dragging on the ground.

"Vita, hey, Vita!" Chance called from a small distance away from her. He ran forwards head first until her halted right in front of Vita. "I did it! I told my parents, and they said that they were proud of me! Hooray!" He did a small dance that couldn't help but shift Vita's attitude.

"Let's go find Tuna and Hon-hon." They walked off together, but Vita couldn't help but wonder where Yasuhiro got his views from each time they passed by a non-Treasure Town native. _I'm probably overthinking it. They seem cool._

In the town center, the oricorio from earlier had finished their dance and left. What took their place was what seemed to be two gengar and their cronies having a Scary-Face-off. Chance shied away from them the farthest he could. Vita had to ask, "Are the ghosts really that bad?"

"What? Um, that's… subjective." Chance tried to laugh it off. When Vita looked at him with a blank face from not understanding the meaning of the word he used, he sighed. "Well, they haven't _done_ anything in Treasure Town, but there have been legends and stories of Dread Crypt being filled with pokémon who didn't want to die, but did. How is a different thing, but I'm pretty sure that stigma has stuck to them because people are scared." _Please don't ask me any more about this. That's all I've heard about it from my parents and people around town._

"So… everyone's just scared over nothing?" _I'm even more confused._

"Well… wouldn't you say they wouldn't be completely wrong to be wary? They just came to town out of nowhere and decided to call it their new home without anyone's consent. They party and howl until the sunrise. Some of them are creepy on purpose, and some even have abilities to take the life out of you!" He let some of his own personal frustrations come out. _I haven't slept well because of those Mightyena._ _And I'm pretty sure someone has been eating my dreams._

"Sure." Vita wasn't completely convinced, but she let it be for then. "But why did they come here?"

"Their place burned down, didn't it? The trees must have went with it, and it was a really dark place. So, the sunlight must have bothered them."

"Why didn't they go to another forest? There's no shade here."

"They only come out at night here, so, yeah. Dunno." Chance hopped closer to Vita when he saw a shuppet going around sticking his tongue out at random pokémon. "I'm sure they'll leave soon enough."

* * *

Spinda's Cafe showed sharp contrast to the marketplace of Treasure Town. It was filled with dozens of pokémon chatting about, sharing apple and berry juice, and dancing. The titular spinda was off in the corner shaking juice with a lively crowd around her. At the other corner were two blue pokémon, a wynaut and wobbuffet, holding what seemed to be a Bingo game. Every table was occupied, and many pokémon resorted to standing in order to stay in the cafe.

Vita looked around the whole cafe with wonder, soaking in every square inch of the place. Meanwhile, all three of her partners were holding pleasant conversation, already knowing about the charm of Spinda's Cafe. "This place is impressive."

"Hm?" Chance pecked at a bluk berry, purple juice staining his pale beak. "Yeah, it is. Tonight is even livelier than usual."

"Because of the show!" Fay said.

"This must be some show for us to have had to 'rescue' you for it." Chance gave a light chuckle.

Delthea shot a dirty look at Fay. "Not really. It's only because she bought the tickets with _my_ money weeks in advance and wouldn't stop bothering me about it until I went because I initially told her no!" The natu became red in the face having just said that all in one breath, an even deeper color than her new accessory. "The tickets weren't even for coming, it was for food! So we were going, whether either of us liked it or not!" At least she was sure of her words. Vita and Chance looked down at the table covered in berries.

After a few moments of silence, Chance said, "Isn't that a lose-lose for _you_ either way?"

She sighed and rested her beak on the table. "Yes. But they wouldn't give refunds, so…"

"What's the show?" Chance tried to change the subject.

"Ever seen Flamenco and the Bell-awesomes?" Fay asked, not looking at Delthea, who was still annoyed. Vita and Chance repeated the name together with sheer confusion. "They're an awesome dance crew that work it here. One ludicolo and four bellossom. They usually come out when there's a 'big win' over there at the Recycle Shop, but they've been on break for a while. So, it's hype now."

"Sure," Delthea said bitterly while dipping her beak into a cut-open cactus. "Fay, you really-"

Delthea got cut off by a banging on their table. Three pairs of arms and one pair of blades were the source. Looking up, Team Chaos was standing opposite Team Endeavor. "Lookie what we have here, fellas. So _you're_ an exploration team now, huh?" Blake pointed at Delthea and Fay with one hand and Chance with the other. Behind him, DJ and Chewie were standing, covered in thin white gauze around each appendage.

"Bro, they be lying!" DJ said.

"Yeah, joo really think joo all can be like us? Nah, ese, nah." Chewie squished one of Chance's bluk berries under his hand.

"That was mine…" Chance muttered with his beak under the table.

"You gotta speak up, Chalk, man." DJ leaned across to look down on the fire-type. His bank of words beginning with "ch" to subconsciously use in place of "Chance" was beginning to dwindle.

"Back off, bub." Vita stood opposite the heracross and flared her nostrils. "And his name's Chance."

"No, it's the crazy girl!" Chewie yanked DJ back. The two then proceed to hug each other and cower behind Blake.

"Yeah, yeah, crazy!" Liam echoed, reminding everyone that he was still there.

Blake sighed and hit the table before stepping away. "Sorry to bother you." He obviously didn't mean it. He had to pull his large, useless teammates away with him. Liam tried to stay behind and swipe food from Team Endeavor, but Blake wasn't that blind. The pawniard said, "Damn it, Liam, get your ass over here. Now."

"Y-yes sir, Boss, sir." The cranidos saluted then scampered away without another word.

"I've never seen them act like that before." Fay glanced at Vita. "Did something happen when I was gone?"

"Yeah, you should have seen her! She beat down DJ and Chewie when they were cornering me this morning!" Chance chirped.

"That's why they were in bandages?" Delthea asked.

"That's why they ran away?" Fay felt that to be the more important question.

"Probably," Vita said. The four of them left it at that and turned back to their meal. A large watmel berry caught the vigoroth's attention. Ogling at it, she pulled it closer with one hand and readied the other to use Slash.

"Better share that," Fay said with all faces starting to droop. _I need the sugar right now. So sleepy._

Next to her, Delthea tried to say something, but failed to. She kept dipping her head up and down as her eyes were barely open. Chance moved to lie down on the stool he was sitting on as he almost fell down from leaning too far in one direction. Vita herself wasn't unlike her friends. "Was gonna, but…" She lowered her arm, which had started shaking, and rested her head on the watmel berry. "Why'm I so tired? Just wanna sleep. Plus, feel kinda bad," she slurred. This was quite worrisome, given her species.

Without warning, a spinda twirled by the table with a juice canister in one hand and a basket of oran berries in the other. In one swift motion, she dropped the basket on Team Endeavor's table and took the one that was already there in exchange, which was still half full of the blue morsels. She laughed shakily and kept spinning by until she reached the drink station, saying over her shoulder, "Sorry. Those ones are more fresh. Juice is on the house for you tonight." She brought the basket close to her face and gave gave a sniff before her face soured.

"Did we all eat something bad? What was wrong with those oran berries?" Chance said with his eyes slowly closing.

"They tasted alright," Vita said. _Wait, didn't Mr. Future say…_

"Actually, I think mine was really soft and funny tasting. Probably." Delthea hid herself behind her cactus cup in shame.

"They were rotten?" Fay deadpanned. "I wanna go to sleep now."

"Aw, and today was going well." Chance tried sitting up, but dropped his head once it was only inches above the stool. On the table, a large candle with a strong purple flame gave him the drive to get up. _Fire warm… Maybe the heat will wake me up._ "Candle," he murmured with the slight intent of having Vita help situate him up.

"Candle?" Delthea repeated as she twitched her beak up before she fell asleep. The glob of white wax was not even a foot from her, flame burning large. She tilted her head and narrowed one eye. "Were there always candles at Spinda's Cafe?"

"No?" Fay lethargically spun around to catch wind of all the other tables, none of which sported a candle at all, much less one like the one at theirs. A pang in her stomach bothered her. "Yep, it was the food." An odd gurgle supported her conclusion, to which the other three nodded with a lack of alternative answers.

The candle on their table started shaking slightly. Then, ever so slowly, it rotated. Its purple flame grew even bigger. Team Endeavor leaned in close as much as they could (Chance with a lot of help from Vita) and were unable to find any true difference in it. It _had_ moved, but it seemed the same as it was. That was, until one yellow dot appeared, then flickered on and off. The four leaned in closer to find themselves staring at it intensely. The next change in it was rather dramatic as a large, pink parabolic shape popped out and wiggled at them. It blew a raspberry and the yellow dot reappeared for good.

"Ah!" Chance shot back, mostly leaving gravity and momentum to do the work for him, too tired to be so active. "What is - no, who are you?"

"Heh heh, I heard you're an exploration team, right?" the candle, a litwick, asked with a scratchy and raspy voice. She looked up at the four for an answer.

"So what if we are?" Fay was immediately wary. The candle was too good at disguising herself.

"Hee hee, sweet! I'm Dubiette, and I'm your new member!" She smiled widely and waved her flame.

"No you're not." _Stay away from me. I can handle Chance, but you're an open flame. You're gonna ruin this for me_ , Fay thought as all her heads focused on looking at their point of convergence.

"Yes I am. Aren't I?" She hopped in front of Fay and turned her back to the bee. In turn, Fay rolled her eyes and slowly flew over to hover between Vita and Chance, the spot exactly opposite Dubiette.

"Uh…" the three other members of Team Endeavor uttered together.

"Yeah? When we heading out?"

 _It's almost eight at night!_ Chance thought.

Vita scratched the back of her head and groaned. _I'm not up for this now. Damn, those oran berries are making me feel bad._ "Sorry, Wispy, this is a bad time. Maybe later, 'kay?"

Dubiette reacted in a way none of the four could have imagined. Her eye narrowed and with a loud shout, she flared her flame up so much, it almost reached the ceiling. "No, no! I'm gonna join you guys, we're gonna be friends, and we'll go on adventures!"

All of them were slack-jawed at her attitude shift. _Two in one day? I thought Altano was enough with this, but this one is dangerous. She's gonna burn this place down!_ Chance thought. "Are you okay, Dubiette?"

"No!" Her flame grew even larger if possible. "I wanna join. No ever lets me do what I want."

Vita puckered her face and regretted thinking, _I'm sorry, but I don't think we should get any new members now._ "Look, Wispy-"

"You even gave me a nickname! That means we're friends, you!" She was desperate. It would have helped if she knew their names. _I'm not leaving until you say yes!_

Fay felt her initial dislike for the candle turn into pity and annoyance. "That doesn't mean any-"

"Please, please!" Dubiette was not going to let it go.

Vita looked around at her teammates and saw them all sharing the same uncomfortable, tired expressions. "Wispy, look"-she waited until Dubiette calmed down just a fraction-"I don't think you should join us. For now, at least. For one thing, we already have four members. That's the limit on outings. Plus, one of them is a fire-type too. And, we just formed today. Give it some time, and if you really feel that way later, we'll talk." Who knew Vita could be such a diplomat?

Knowing that that would be the best answer she would get that night, Dubiette caved in. "Fine. I'm gonna ask you _every_ day, though, so be ready!" Her flame became large once more as her determination shone through. She was, quite literally, fired up.

"That's… We can't say you didn't try?" Delthea gave her credit for passion and persistence.

 _That's too much! Why would you even admit that?_ Chance looked at her in disbelief. "We'll… see to it."

"Bye, then. I'm goin' home." Dubiette jumped off the table, leaving a ring of melted wax behind where she was standing.

"You're not gonna stick around for the show?" Vita called out above the uproarious volume of the other cafe-goers.

"Nah." Dubiette hopped off after giving her answer, proceeding to disappear behind a group of swinub.

"Okay, then," Fay said, taking back her original spot. Before anyone could say any more remarks, the lights of the cafe started to dim. Two spotlights focused on the back wall, right between the juice and recycle station.

"Are we ready?" boomed a voice from what seemed to be behind the wall. The whole mass of pokémon in the cafe exploded in cheers and whoops. As a result, in the blink of an eye, the wall was burst down. From a cloud of dust and falling wood came a ludicolo with an infectious smile and four bellossom. "Oh, yeeeaaah!"

Energetic music kicked up from a small ensemble of kricketune and other pokémon holding specially crafted instruments. The bellossom started first, all moving in sync as a pair stood in front of the ludicolo, who Vita and Chance could only assume to be Flamenco, and a pair behind him. They shook themselves to the beat as many pokémon couldn't help but wiggle along as their grass skirts flew with the rhythm. Flamenco booted up, starting to call out words that complimented the music and dancing wildly with all he had. "Alright! Okay! Tonight! We play! Oi, oi, oi!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" responded the crowd. This was the norm for a Flamenco and the Bell-awesomes show.

"This is rad," Vita noted. _Oughta come back here later._

"Yeah, it's really lively," Chance said. Delthea and Fay could only watch on in awe. The four of them felt their spirits and energy coming back as they couldn't help but join in and dance themselves.

The show continued on for another few numbers without encountering any hitches. But, by the fourth song, something had to go wrong. In the middle of the dance, the sensu-style oricorio from earlier in Treasure Town went to upstage the bellossom. There were four oricorio, each one flying above one bellossom and doing their own synchronized dance. Then followed an Alolan marowak twirling his bone challenging Flamenco for the floor.

"Hello! Welcome, friend! We dance! No problem!" Flamenco called out over the music, continuing to dance. _Let's not have any trouble. We're here to have fun, guys._ His bellossom crew was less welcoming of the stage bombers, donning momentary glares, then amping up their routine to capture more attention.

The marowak and oricorio had other plans than to have fun. They ignored Flamenco's welcome and decided to cause trouble. Each oricorio descended down upon a bellossom and danced circles around them, blocking the crowd's view of them. The marowak continuously passed his spinning bone club between hands and moved closer to Flamenco. The ludicolo danced with not a care in the world, eyes closed. The marowak stood not a foot away from Flamenco, and did one final pass of his bone. It went a farther distance than he had been throwing it previously, moving past his open hand and instead conking Flamenco on the head. Flamenco fell to the ground in shock as his head started pulsing from the impact.

The marowak caught his bone and took Flamenco's place as the star of the show. His oricorio crew had chased off the bellossom, the latter of which became sick of the intruding pokémon. The bellossom retreated to the burst hole in the wall, literally dragging Flamenco along with them. "Jerks," they muttered under their breath.

The new performers' dance came to a close as the music started slowing down. They took a bow, and none but ghost- and dark-types in the cafe cheered on. The rest of the pokémon either awkwardly clapped or started leaving the cafe.

"Well, then…" Vita said as several pokémon brushed past her to leave. "What was that?"

"Well, we hope to see you all again tomorrow. Don't worry. Flamenco wasn't injured in that… accident. Have a nice night," announced the spinda that swapped their berry baskets earlier with a shaky voice, who had taken the stage after the stage-stealers stepped down. _I don't want to ban anyone from coming here… This is the first time anything like this has happened, and hopefully the last. I'll call it a first offence, but if it happens again…_

"We should probably go, heh," Delthea whispered. Without any objections, Team Endeavor went back to Wigglytuff's Guild with the hostilities of the dancing ghosts raging in their minds.

* * *

Author's note: And we're alive! But, really, what was holding me back on updating this was the actual content. I have a lot of things planned out, and I have a lot of things not. Of note, I have thought out plenty of character development and a larger cast, but not too much of the overall plot and conflict other than what follows the character development. I wasn't going to throw so many new main characters in anyone's face in one chapter, so I'm going to have to think harder on pacing. Until then, again, slow updates. This story seems to have a low readership count, too, but I personally adore what I'm making of it, and am going to see it through to the end. Thank you for reading, and until next time.

This really doesn't matter, but, as is noticeable in this chapter, I started lower-casing "pokémon " and species names. It's mostly due to another story that's been in my head that I have mostly typed up when I got bored one night where this stylistic choice fit better. So, I'll follow that for this story as well, and will go back and changed the previous chapters later. The only reason that I'm bothering to make a point of this is because I've noticed other people on here making a big point of it. Personally, after becoming so jaded on things, capitalizing and lower-casing both look wrong, so I'll at least be consistent in what I choose. Not like anyone really cares, huh? At least I won't be fighting with my phone's autocorrect as much now. This has been longer than it should have been, but that's what I get when I'm finishing this up at four in the morning for no reason at all.

As to the reviews:

Mythgirl: Yeah, the characters are actually what make this story. I've been thinking about them for a while, and found a way to put them on paper. Get ready for more colorful characters.


	5. Chilled to the Bone

Author's Note: Welcome to the next chapter, which has been sitting in the dark all typed up for like a year. Because of this break, I want to put this story on hold and rewrite it. Change a lot of things, finesse a lot of characters, have more restraint, straighten out the plot, the works. This rewrite won't be immediate, maybe in a while, but eventually for sure. With that on out of the way, let's join Team Endeavor on their antics again.

* * *

Team Endeavor found themselves staring at the ceiling in the dark of night in their housing space within Wigglytuff's Guild. It was well past dinner time, and although Tenor warned them against staying up after lights out was called, the four could not manage to fall asleep due to a mix of excitement and sadness from the events at Spinda's Cafe.

Used to falling asleep to the sound of her siblings' buzzing, Fay broke the silence first. "So, Chance…"

"Shouldn't we not talk? Ow," he whispered. He flinched away from his spot on a compact haystack he had to share with Vita since only two beds were provided. Fay insisted on sharing with Delthea when the normal-type accidentally poked Chance with a claw.

"Sorry. Can't sleep. It's not in my blood." Vita had been tossing and turning beside him since the moment she lied down.

Fay brought the focus back to her. "Is that an everstone around your neck, or just some weird rock?"

Chance looked down at the stone hung around his neck. "Yeah, it is. My mom gave it to me some time ago for my birthday."

"That's sweet of her." Vita got up from bed and started doing jumping jacks, having started jittering from an overabundance of energy in her body.

Fay rolled all of her eyes. "Are you kidding me? Given the chance, I would choose to evolve in a heartbeat. Why wouldn't you?"

Chance knew his answer well. He just never expected to ever have to articulate it. "I mean, evolving isn't all that. You get a little stronger, but so what?"

Fay couldn't have frowned harder. "That's nice for you, but I'm a combee. What can I do? I can only learn two moves. What good am I if I'm not a vespiquen?"

"Oh. Um, sorry." Chance took for granted his innate abilities and the fact that he was more well off than many a pokémon. Recalling seeing a magikarp flopping about out of water, whining to his mother about wanting to evolve instantly from a time ago sobered him up of Fay's apparent passion about evolving. "I'm sure it'll happen soon."

"I don't need you telling me that," Fay said with sass. _You don't even know. I wish it would happen._ "But, still, thanks…"

"You got it." He gently rolled over, making sure his feet didn't get tangled with each other.

"What about you guys?" Fay asked.

Vita, who had switched to doing push-ups, answered next. Without even stopping her reps to talk, she said, "Can't wait either. I'm gonna evolve as soon as I can. You don't know how much it would mean to me."

"Why? You're already in your intermediate stage. My parents said that you should just let evolution be a natural process as you go through life. Sometimes your body can't take it," Chance said. His father had told him stories of how when he was a kid, he pushed himself to evolve into a combusken, and ended up regretting it as he didn't know how to adapt to having arms quite yet.

"Well…" Vita slowly shifted to standing and doing pull-ups on a support beam overhead. "I would be proving some people wrong, I guess."

" _You've_ been bullied about being weak?" Fay shot her a look in the dim light of a lantern hung on the wall. "Yeah, and tepig fly."

"No, not that. Just…" Vita almost slipped off the beam as she lost herself in thought. "I guess I never really had any good role models to aspire to be like until I learned about exploration teams, and met them..."

"No one? Not even… your parents?" It ended up being more of a question to Delthea herself as she asked it without knowing what direction she was going in. "Or something?"

Vita scrunched up her face as she pulled her head above the beam, obscuring her expression from her friends. "Nah, not them. Don't got anyone in specific." She paused. "Actually, I got one, but they kinda fell off the map a while ago."

"Okay, then." Fay didn't think that Vita could be so quiet.

Reluctantly, and to clear the air, Delthea stepped up. "I would like to evolve, actually." Fay perked up, having never heard the full answer from the bird's mouth. "Xatu are renowned for their visions and abilities, like Yasuhiro. I want to be like him some day. I want to be like other xatu and natu."

"Delthea," Fay said. _You don't have to be like everyone else._

"I'm supposed to know things. But, I don't. And I hate that." She crunched clumps of hay in her small claws. "I want to know, instead of just skirting around things and running away."

"I'm sure it isn't as bad as you think." Chance felt for her, but his comforting skills were nonexistent.

Fay knew the rest of the story. "Don't worry about it. Things will work out for you, I know. And no one will judge you… unless they're as big of jerks as Team Chaos is."

"My family think I'm on a pilgrimage right now to better and enlighten myself. I haven't been home in a few months so far." Delthea decided to share her side with her two new friends. "A lot of them are expecting me to return as a xatu with knowledge aplenty under my belt. When I evolve. If I evolve. When I go back. If I go back…"

"I'm sure they care about you." Vita had been holding her position at the peak of a pull-up for quite some time. "Just talk to 'em."

"Maybe…" Delthea teleported to a small bucket of water provided in the corner of their room. Dipping her beak in it, she let the cool sensation take her away.

Chance felt even less sleepy as talking only spiked his heart rate. Fay couldn't sleep as what started out as a lighthearted conversation turned into something heavy. Her absent-minded buzzing filled the room, getting progressively louder as her head ran with more busy thoughts.

Breaking them out of their trance, and drastically shifting the atmosphere was the booming voice they all had encountered just that day. Rory ran into their room with bloodshot eyes and fists shaking in the air. "We're awake after lights out, are we?"

From the loud bass breaking the silent night, Vita let go of the support beam and came crashing down to the floor. Delthea lost her balance and ended up falling into the bucket, submerging herself in the cold water. Fay flew higher into the air as each word beat her eardrums. Chance rolled off his bed and almost set fire to it.

"And it's you doing that incessant buzzing?" Rory pointed at Fay with a shaking hand. "Okay, then, all of you up!"

Team Endeavor was left two options: fight or flight. They chose flight, obviously, as Rory looked like he could take down the whole guild and then some with one Uproar with how enraged he was.

"Run away!" Vita shouted over her shoulder as she maneuvered past the loudred at top speed with Delthea on her shoulder. Then followed Fay above the loudred's head, and Chance just shy of grazing his arm, all of which screamed in unison, "Run away!" as Rory chased them around the guild until he fell asleep from exhaustion.

"Please, this item is very important to me," a froslass said with her small hands clasped in front of Team Endeavor. "I tried getting it myself, but the blizzard was raging on, too strong even for me. I'm too intimidated to go!"

Vita scratched her head as she took the job request in her paw. _She just floated over to us as soon as we came up the stairs. Does she really need this item that badly?_ "Alrighty, then"-she paused to read the name on the paper-"Frosia. We'll, uh, look it over right now."

The client nodded her head as the four other pokémon huddled around the request to read it. It read, "My sister needs it! A dawn stone, that is. I had one with me as I was going home, but I seemed to have dropped it somewhere. Now, in Shattered Rime, a blizzard just blew over, and everyone there is awake and alert, making it too much for me to go on my own. Help me. My sister won't rest until she evolves." The handwriting got progressively messier as the note went on.

"Uh-huh," they all said slowly.

"Well?" Frosia looked at each of them hopefully.

"Are you sure you want us?" Fay asked quickly, the thought of going somewhere cold making her wings lock up.

"You're the only team that has come by here for the past hour. I need this dawn stone as soon as I can. My sister won't stop talking about it, and I'm afraid she'll hurt someone with how her tantrums go. Please, you must!"

"Er, I don't think we're well equipped to go," Delthea said.

"It can't hurt to try." Frosia was not going to let it go. _Take the request, for my sake! What kind of explorers hesitate this much? Seriously…_

"I mean, we just formed our team yesterday…" Chance tried slowly worming out of the deal.

"Experience has nothing to do with this. I just need you to get this stupid rock before you drive me insane, you got that? Are you all stupid or something? I'll make you go if you don't," she snapped. Fearing her suddenly more than they had Rory the previous night, they all silently nodded their heads. "Good. I dropped it in the sixth sector of Shattered Rime. You're looking for a dawn stone, and don't come back until you have it. I don't care if you all freeze to death before you find it, but you better find it!"

Her briefing was absurd, but the four chalked it up to her sister being quite the nuisance. Fay could relate to an extent. Wanting to escape the situation, Chance said, "Got it. You just wait here, and we'll bring it to you."

"You better," Frosia said as she floated away, leaving Team Endeavor to stomach the situation they just got themselves into. _They're not gonna make it back. Who else would be willing to go?_ she thought as she scanned the rest of the floor.

As they left, Chance could had sworn he heard someone call out, "Wait!" Not wanting to face Frosia again, he didn't think much of it.

"Shattered Rime, as you requested," Psych said, distancing himself from the exploration team. A chilling breeze caused his old bones to ache. The five stood in a landscape of ice and water, as the location's name suggested. Vast, smooth ice sheets ran far while many slowly drifting ice caps floated in exposed water. Deeper into the area, trees rose into the sky, coated in snow. They stood at the edge of the zone, the sturdiest ice under their feet.

"Thanks, Fancyman," Vita said, rubbing her paws together for friction.

"I would prefer you not to call me that," the alakazam said before teleporting away.

"It's cold here!" Fay stated the obvious. As she predicted, her wings locked up, and flying took more energy than it usually did.

"Why did we take this job?" Delthea tried her best to huddle into a ball for warmth, snuggling deeper into her Special Band.

"Because that Frosia is crazy," Chance said, the only one not bothered by the cold for obvious reasons. "Do you think we could have just bought a dawn stone from Kecleon Market to save us some time?"

"Oops." Delthea wished she came up with that idea.

"Wouldn't save our pockets. She's so lucky it's too late to go back now," Fay said, unable to summon a will strong enough to break her pride and ask to call back Psych.

"Let's just do this." Vita took a deep breath only to release it when a shiver crept up on her. "Ready?"

Reluctant replies of agreement came as she stepped into the mystery dungeon zone. Then followed Delthea and Fay side-by-side, leaving Chance behind.

"I don't want to go in. What if they need me?" It just struck him then that they were entering an area consisting of mostly ice-types, not that the name gave it away or anything. His comrades offered no type advantages to any possible hostile pokémon lurking in Shattered Rime.

If anyone, he would have to be the MVP of the team on this outing. Should had been. _I can't do this. They're gonna expect me to carry them through if this place proves tough. I only have a measly Ember to help. What if it's not enough? I'm not strong enough. What happens if we all wipe out in there?_

"Chance, you coming?" Delthea called out having teleported to his side. "We kinda need you."

He nodded his head like nothing was bothering him. _That's the last thing that I wanted to hear._ "Ready."

Once the two birds caught up, the team stopped moving. "Do we really have to do this?" Fay asked with annoyed faces.

"You've been talking about this the whole time?" Chance found it plausible that the two were indeed trying to tell if the quest was worth it or not.

"I mean, I took him out, but…" Fay motioned her body at a fainted sneasel just yards away with "I'm sorry" carved into the ice he was laying on. "I know I'm great. Don't look at me like that."

Delthea rolled her eyes. "Vita, how'd you knock him out so fast?"

Vita shamefully looked at the ground and coughed out, "He, uh, tapped my shoulder, and out of reflex, I Brick Break'd him in the solar plexus."

"One hit KO," Fay deadpanned, knowing that she wouldn't get away with the credit of the victory.

Vita cringed harder."I didn't mean to! His hand was just really cold, and his claw was really sharp."

"I'm not covering for you," Chance said, realizing that the sneasel was very likely younger than he.

"Right." Delthea hopped away from the vigoroth a bit.

"What do we do with him?" Chance stared at the bright bruise forming on the sneasel's torso. "Wow, that must have hurt. What a shiner."

"Dungeon zones have free reign battle policies, so let's just walk away and pretend this didn't happen," Vita said as she slowly inched away. _Why is it that my winning streak is mostly made of accidental defeats like this one?_

"Sure…" Chance walked forwards, but couldn't help looking back at the sneasel. It was hard not to. That was, until a weavile jumped out and started dragging him away.

Under her breath, the weavile muttered loud enough to echo in the ice chamber they were in, "You idiot. This is what you get for trying to jump people when you _know_ you can't battle. Stick to wood carving like you're good at." The motherly feeling she exuded made Vita feel that much worse for the poor sneasel.

"We're going now?" Fay got bored the moment the weavile walked out of earshot. Delthea hopped after her, and Vita took large strides with Chance in tow, trying to forget her accidental victory.

"To the sixth sector…" Delthea said. _Okay, just follow Vita. If we encounter anyone, she can handle them. I can just stay back._ "We're lucky that you're so powerful, Vita."

"Please don't say that." Vita was still covering her face. "It was probably that that kid was pretty weak."

"Don't deny your monster strength. We'll need it-" Fay said before Vita cut in.

"I get it. Off we go." The vigoroth broke out into a cold sweat. _No kidding, unintentional strength runs in the family. Thanks, Mom_.

The rest of the first floor consisted of the team wandering aimlessly for the stairs. No hostile pokémon crossed their paths, and they could only assume that no one wanted a battle. However, the sound of quick footsteps and the sight of several sneasel scampering around the corner several times made Vita feel all the much worse about her knockout. Perhaps their battle-free streak was due in part to Vita's win, and perhaps it was dumb luck. Either way, it would change the next floor.

After managing to find the stairs and climb them to enter the second zone of the dungeon, Team Endeavor was finally hit by the cold. It seemed they were warped deeper into the tundra, and freshly falling hail dampened their moods. Fay was doing the least well of all of them due to chunks of ice gathering on her broad body and weighing her down. Delthea was lucky enough to be moving under Fay, using her like an umbrella from the ice, to which the bee could not possibly stop her from doing.

Chance was the most miserable. Although he should have been the most well off in the cold, the weather made things that much worse for him. Instead of just pelting him, the ice melted on impact and soaked him to the bone, drastically reducing his internal temperature. "This sucks."

Vita tried her best to shelter him, but it was short lived as the falling hail only became heavier. They rounded a corner, Vita leading the pack with the two flying-types covering the rear, and found a block in their road. An abomasnow, the likely cause of the hail with his Snow Warning, was dancing jovially in the middle of a chamber.

He took up most of the small room, leaving the four to gawk at his size and tremble as each step he made caused the ice under them to crack. No one was completely sure if under them was solid ice or water beneath the surface. The abomasnow stopped dancing once he heard Vita sneeze. "Darn, again?"

He firmly planted his feet on the ground and placed his hands on his hips to stare at the four. A childish voice rang out, "What do you want?"

The four gaped at his voice. He could have been no older than half Vita's age judging by his voice, tone, and toys set off in the corner of the room. The unbridled strength he seemed to have, proven by the large indents made in the ice by his dancing, further drove his youth out. His age most likely resulted in his poor handle on his ability, and the dynamic hail. Chance collected himself first and said, "Um, I'm sorry. Just passing through. Excuse us."

"Fine." The abomasnow pouted and crossed his arms, but stepped aside. After the team made it to the other side of him, he resumed dance. The hail seemed to fall harder as he cheered even louder with each step. Fay, ready to collapse with how much ice was gathering on her, snapped, "Can you cut it with the weather?"

He spun to look at the bee and pout again. "No."

"Listen, kid, you-"

He cut her off, repeating, "No."

"Dude, will you-"

"No."

"I'm not saying to stop it, just lighten-"

"No."

Fay narrowed all her eyes. "Okay, brat, you're not gonna get everything you want in life. Learn it now and realize that you won't get everything your way, especially just 'cause you're a kid. So stop the stupid hailstorm, you jerk!" _When I was a kid, whenever I tried to act like him, Mamma made me pollinate twice the flowers I originally had to. Plus, you're evolved already. Act it._

The abomasnow glared at her, then looked over his shoulders. He stuck his tongue out at Fay. Then, he started wailing like no tomorrow, The hail definitely did not stop.

"I'm not gonna cave in just because you're crying, you-" Fay hated kids like him. She stopped talking when out of nowhere, four snover ran out and comforted the abomasnow.

"There, there," one of the snover said while patting the larger ice-grass-type.

"Tell Big Bro what happened, Olaf," another said while eyeing Team Endeavor, who had yet to move out of shock and confusion.

"I, I was playing, and then, then," the abomasnow, Olaf, whined. He cracked an eye open from his fake crying to stare at Fay with victory written on his face. "Those meanies called me names and said I had to make it stop snowing, but I don't know how!"

The four snover snapped their heads to Team Endeavor. They then moved to stand opposite each member and glare them down. The one boy, who seemed to be the oldest, said, "You think it's fun to bully our li'l bro? Huh?"

"No, no, no, it wasn't like that, I swear!" Chance said. Anxiety and fear were rising in him; having been a good boy his entire life, the most trouble and consequences he faced were Team Chaos. He had no idea what would ensue.

"Sure," said the shortest snover. She tossed a snowball, which hit Fay. The good news was that the snowball knocked all the ice crumbs off of her. The bad news was that it made her fall to the ground.

"Hey, really, just hear us out and-" Vita got a face full of snow.

"Blah, blah." The third snover stepped up. "I don't know where you're from, but here, we'll settle this with a battle." Each snover took a fighting stance in front of one member of Team Endeavor.

"Wait, we don't want-"

"Can it, jerk. This is what you get for making our little brother cry," the last snover cut Delthea off. He leered at her, then looked to his older brother standing opposite Vita.

The oldest said, "One-on-one for all of us. Winners get to walk away. Losers get to face their punishment.".

"Help. Me." Delthea desperately wanted to chicken out, but she had few options with little repercussions.

The whole time, standing behind the snover siblings in their blind spot was their littlest brother, hiding his laughter.

Reluctantly, Team Endeavor took their own fighting stances. Most prepared was Vita, followed by Fay, Chance, and Delthea in a tie for last. Fay had few moves and was being slowed down by the cold, Delthea had next to no battle experience, and Chance was wet and not confident.

"Ready?" the oldest asked.

Without even looking at the rest of her teammates, Fay charged in with a war cry. The snover siblings sprang forwards next, all simultaneously casting Icy Wind on their respective opponents.

Vita blocked the attack and took it head-on. Then, she stepped forwards to use Slash and jabbed her snover several times over. He was pushed back, almost crashing into a wall. Wanting to get things over with quickly, she ran in front of him and prepared a Fire Punch. "Sorry." To her dismay, he pushed her back and charged a glowing emerald sphere, Energy Ball. "Here we go…"

Fay was not in a good mood. The snover she was facing kept blabbing on about how Fay and her friends were in the wrong by teasing her brother, which was not the story at all. "I mean, what kinda jerks would be petty enough to tease my dumb younger brother?"

 _Oh, you can call him names, but not us? Buzz off._ With such a plethora of moves to choose from, Fay fluttered her wings quickly and emitted Sweet Scent. The snover laughed and danced in the fume like she was in a flower field. Reaching her limit, Fay let out a banshee cry and used Gust. A moderately-sized tornado generated by the move flew at the snover and hit her dead on, knocking her out and shutting her up. "That's what you get." A one-hit KO, not even a critical hit.

"Holy - Fay, how strong are you? That was crazy!" Chance gawked at Fay's victory, feeling all that much more insignificant and not confident.

"Wow, was that impressive!" Vita looked up from pinning her snover down and holding a Fire Punch above him. _How much has she trained? I'm amazed she hasn't evolved yet with how powerful she seems._ Tired of her own scuffle, which consisted mostly of her snover pushing her quite literally and hurling non-precise, non-accurate Energy Balls at her, she punched him and walked away. He stayed down while mumbling nonsense pertaining to his height, which Vita chalked up to him being a sore loser.

Delthea shriveled as her snover towered over her. The latter scoffed as she bent down to get a better look at the bird. She said, "You think you can beat me?" An Ice Punch charged in her hand.

"No." Delthea's immediate reaction was to teleport onto her opponent's head. Lacking many resources and time to think, she resorted to using Peck many times over, leaving chips in the snow crown of the snover's head.

"Ah!" the snover shrieked while swatting at her head. Delthea teleported back onto the ground just in time to see the pokémon accidentally hurt herself with her own move. The snover knocked herself out, much to Delthea's shock and awe.

"I _think_ I won?" the natu asked rather than stated. Accepting what just happened, all remaining eyes snapped to the last remaining pair.

Chance kept backing up each time his snover took one step forwards. His body wouldn't let him do anything else. _Oh, gee, I can't do this. Everyone else won by some miracle or another. I doubt that'll happen to me._ "Can't we talk this out?"

"No," the last snover growled out. She stopped moving forwards to charge Ice Beam. "You ready?"

"Ah! Ah, ah... achoo!" Chance's body decided to shift gears. Instead of screaming out in pathetic desperation, he sneezed. A flame blew out and hit his snover in the face. The doubly-super-effective move paired with the unexpected factor of it was an instant knockout. "What?"

Four snover were left lying on the ground, all moaning in pain. "What'd you do that for?" the oldest asked.

"You said battle!" Fay spat with her back facing them.

"You stupidheads!" the abomasnow cried out as he stomped over to his siblings. "Why can't you ever battle right? None of you can even land a hit on a tree stump during training!"

"We know that," groaned the snover Fay squared off against.

"Why did you propose a battle?" another asked while looking to the oldest brother.

"I thought they would run away. I didn't think they would actually do it!"

"Shut up!" their youngest sibling roared. The abomasnow walked up to Fay with a hardened face. Relaxing it, he said, "Wow, Miss, that was really cool! You're so strong! Let's be friends. You're way stronger than my stupid siblings. Even if you're a dumb combee. You can help me deal with my even dumber neighbors." His words were so shallow and empty. Cheerfulness was obviously being faked.

Disgust ran through Fay. That the child in front of her could so easily flip his sides and attitude just because he saw a better opportunity for himself was wrong. He left his siblings to be forgotten as the "strongest" pokémon caught his eye, even if he had just been looking down on them minutes before. Even if he had been the one to sic his siblings on Team Endeavor.

Only because it would benefit him in some way or another did he respect them, they could tell. Had they lost, he would probably have laughed at them and left them to freeze over. All teammates felt just as iffy as Fay. He even had the gall to insult Fay and his siblings as he was playing kiss-ass.

Team Endeavor's mature and justifiable response was to walk away from the siblings. Chance and Delthea were left taking the walk of shame as their wins were pure flukes as opposed to Vita's and Fay's.

The fourth floor was a calm one. The weather was clear and no water was in the area to hamper their movements. This prompted Chance to start skidding as a means of transport instead of walking. The smooth ice under his claws, the crisp noise emitted from the act, and the quiet atmosphere had him in a trance. "Hey, this is actually pretty fun."

"Uh-huh," Fay deadpanned as she was being carried by Vita. As a means to conserve energy and not risk falling to the ground due to the cold being too much for the bee's body to handle, Vita took it upon herself to do so. "That's nice. Really great. I'm so happy for you."

"Sorry." Chance let himself not dwell on Fay's misery as a result of his contentment. His newfound knack for ice skating brought happiness in and stress out. _I don't even care about what happened with my battle back there. I'm on top of the world, baby!_

Then, he made one wrong move. Chance bent his leg at the wrong time and tipped himself off balance. His talons bent with his leg as he stumbled and stopped upon tripping over himself. He sent himself flying a small distance, landing in a lump of snow and effectively melting a hole in it. "Owie…"

"Hey, you alright?" Vita dashed over to him and waved her arms above him.

"Yeah, sure." Chance sat up and had one eye closed the whole time. He shook his legs and clenched his claws with cheeks puffed, as if to prevent himself from saying any more. "I just need to rest a little. My feet kinda hurt from-" he paused for a second "-walking so much."

"Let's move you to somewhere more comfortable." Delthea teleported around trying to find a better spot to rest.

"I got it." Chance shakily stood and took five steps before promptly falling back down. _Ah, my claws. They bent so acutely. At least they didn't snap off like that one time._

No longer than it took him to fall did he jolt back up and hide behind Vita. "Ah, what was that? My back and butt landed on something pointy."

"Well, there's a mass of icicles right there, so…" Fay wore bored faces. Chance had landed near several perfectly conical and clear icicles peeking out from the blanket of snow.

"Hey, who's usin' me as a cushion?" a deep voice rang out. Delthea teleported back just in time to see the icicle mass rise from the ground. Snow fell off it, dusting the ground and Vita's feet. "What the hell's goin' on here?"

In place of the icicles was a sandslash of the ice and steel variety. His whole body shook as he shot each explorer with a dirty look. "Was it you? How 'bout you? You little jerks need to learn respect."

"Why does he remind me of that other sandslash we met in Honey Forest?" Vita loudly whispered.

Without warning, the pokémon charged a claw and flung himself into the air, homing in on Delthea. Before he reached the vertex of his parabolic leap, Fay said, "What do we do?"

"Run away?" Chance offered, doing a dance that only required him to stand on one leg at all times.

"Run away." Delthea wanted to confirm the notion.

Nodding, Vita repeated much more confidently than her comrades, "Run away."

She grabbed Chance and Delthea in each hand after tucking Fay under one arm. Then, Vita booked it and ran the fastest she could in the direction opposite the one they came from. No one even looked back at the hostile sandslash who struck first, too confused and scared to even try.

"Are they related or something?" Fay wondered. "The two sandslash. They seem like they could be twins."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Chance said.

"Ugh, you guys need to know when to jet. I can't keep carrying you to escape." Vita felt her grip on Delthea slipping.

"Sure, sure." Fay took the opportunity to rest her wings.

Eventually, Vita ran far enough to realize that she should have stopped a while ago. After she set everyone else down, she fell on her back on a mound of snow near a tree. "Ah, we should have gone back."

"I would have rather faced that guy than Frosia." Chance shuddered at the thought. "Who knows what she can do if her freak-out was that intense."

"Did anyone see a Dawn Stone along the way?" Delthea reminded them of their primary objective.

"Nope." Fay watched as Vita made a bad snow angel.

"Seriously? We must have covered like half this area." Chance sat himself down next to Vita, body heat causing him to sink down in the snow. Quickly, only his hair was visible, so Vita plucked him out and patted his head.

The four soon got up and continued their trek. As they walked deeper into Shattered Rime, they found themselves departing from the large water body at the entrance and going more inland. Trees became more apparent, and so did falling snow.

What started out as a continuous dusting of snow became a windy storm. From that came a full-blown blizzard the likes none of them had ever seen. White was the only color they could see, snow blanketing the entire area and blinding them. It started out as a dazzling sight, but soon devolved into an event evoking severe disdain in the group. It was even worse than the one brought on by the bratty abomasnow from earlier.

Delthea and Fay were on the verge of becoming ice cubes, and Vita moved robotically, joints frozen stiff and unable to handle the circumstance. Her fur provided little protection. Chance, the one most likely to be unfazed by the weather, even clacked his legs and beak together and could barely muster an Ember.

"How much longer until we can go back?" Fay shouted over the howling wind.

"I don't think we should turn back." Vita couldn't cran her neck back far enough to face the combee. "Unless you wanna come back again later."

"Well, yeah, but how are we supposed to find a Dawn Stone in this weather?" Delthea teleported at a rate that was equivalent to her regular walking speed, which was to say quite sluggishly.

"We'll freeze before we find it!" Chance didn't know how much longer his body could continue going. His internal flame was telling him he needed out. "Should we have just bought one?"

"What's causing this storm? It seems unnatural." Delthea wished she could rest on Vita's shoulder, but when she tried it earlier, she almost stuck to the vigoroth and couldn't move.

"Maybe someone used Hail? Or another abomasnow came by?" Chance couldn't think of anything else.

"But it's so extreme. What's going on? Is it always like this here?" Fay used the last of her strength to headbutt Vita, signalling that her wings were going to give out.

Vita tucked the bee under her arm again and answered them all at once. "How the heck am I supposed to know? I'm not Kyurem."

"How are we getting out?" Chance doubted that Psych could come rescue them.

"I don't think Fancyman or any other teleporter can safely make it here to rescue us." Vita tapped Fay like she was winding her up, then set her next to her to fly on her own.

"Do you guys hear that?" Delthea shouted and whipped her top feather to prevent ice from forming.

"Hear what? The wind?" Vita cupped a paw by her head and tried listening harder.

Faintly, from a direction no one could name they caught on to what Delthea heard. A soft hum, nearly drowned out by the wind and snow rang out. It was high-pitched, but no lyrics could have been made out. Vita walked forwards with her eyes closed, trying to focus on the music while not falling asleep to the lullaby-like sound of the song.

"Maybe someone's near here. Maybe they can help," Delthea hopefully said.

As they continued walking, the voices became ever so slightly louder. The cold seemed to be forgotten, both in part of the prospect of finding others in the blizzard and in part of hypothermia finally setting in.

" _Allow us this one sacrifice / Holding tightly to our right_ ," they heard. The voices became exponentially louder as Team Endeavor stepped into a bare patch of land without any trees, just snow. The four stopped to catch their breath and listen on.

"What and who is that?" Vita didn't know why, but she felt disturbed by the lyrics.

" _Us born in darkness all alone / For others' sins we have atoned / No longer hiding, we will rise / Our tragedy will be your demise_."

Heavenly soprano voices echoed and sang an anthem of what seemed to be revolution. The voices sounded like they were only a short distance away away closing in on them. Team Endeavor whipped around, trying to find the source.

They found it in a froslass that floated towards Vita. Then another. And another. Shortly, they realized that a small army of froslass formed a circle around them, approaching them and still singing. The diameter of their circle kept decreasing.

" _Once living, lively, loving 'mon / Turned empty, hollow shells by dawn_."

Finally, the froslass formed a circle with no openings around the four. Fay yelled, "What are you doing? What does that song mean?"

"Was this just a trick? A trap set by Frosia for whatever is happening?" Delthea panicked like she never had before. Freezing solid didn't seem like such a bad option at the moment.

The froslass didn't answer or move at all. Instead, they hummed in unison and started dancing, almost disappearing in the snow. Their Snow Veil didn't help Team Endeavor's position. Them having yet to attack, Vita refused to instigate a fight, not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble or waste precious energy.

"I don't think so. She's not here." Chance tried spitting out a flame for comfort, but barely coughed out smoke. "I remember, she had blue sash instead of red. No one here has one, I think."

"Aw, damn it, that means we still need to find her Dawn Stone." Fay saw one of the ice-ghost-types shoot her a grim smile. "If we make it out alive, that is. What now?"

"I think we intruded on their territory," Delthea said, a whisper in the wind. Two froslass shot a blue ball into the sky each, which seemed to signal the blizzard to get worse. "They're using Hail a bunch!"

"Why aren't they attacking?" Vita shivered.

" _A world where sinners won't be missed / Soon that world will exist_." The froslass finally stopped singing.

The largest one floated up to Vita. In a siren's voice, she said, "It's a shame for you you all have such a strong will to live. Allow us to sap that from you." She cupped Vita's face with a hand. "Prepare to freeze over and be forgotten from the world for walking over our birthright."

"Jeez, I didn't know there was sacred land here. We're sorry! We didn't mean to trespass. We'll leave and never come back." Vita jolted away and turned around to come face-to-face with a froslass with a ripped sash.

"So much energy, like the others who have crossed us." The second froslass did as the first to Vita and caressed her face. "Allow us to take that from you."

The two froslass each grabbed one of Vita's arms. Frost formed upon the touch and climbed up her body. It was unnecessary as Vita had already frozen in fear. Chance, Delthea, and Fay couldn't move as well, and the froslass seemed to know it. Several shot out Ice Beam and formed a prison of icicles around them. As Vita wriggled and shouted, she was drowned out by a frozen wind stronger than a dozen snorlax charging at her and the other froslass singing again.

" _You stepped on and broke our life / Now we finally hold the scythe / Now with our unbound roar / You will ignore us nevermore_."

* * *

Author's Note: I'm actually pretty proud of the froslass's lyrics I wrote. Anyway, until next time.


End file.
